07 Aug 2011 Fierce Competition and fiery clashes, Young Cubs roars ahead of SYM group - 2011 CSBK Beijing Round One

After the end of qualification on 6 August, the fans and spectators have strong reasons to expect a good race in the 2011 China Superbike Championship Beijing Round on Sunday, 7 August. In the 150cc Open class, although SYM Jiguang Racing enjoys an obvious advantage, Wuyang-Honda’s improvement in competitiveness has made it a three horse race. SYM, Loncin and Young Cubs are all capable of winning.

In the SS600cc class, Yes! Yamaha Tianjian Racing’s intra team battle has risen to the fiery stage. Totally dominated by his team leader Huang Shi-Zhao in 2010, Xiao Jin is battling back this year, especially here in Beijing. His 1:10.891 qualifying lap helped to secure his first pole position of the year.

SS600cc class: Huang Shi-Zhao wins from behind

The first race starts at 10:30 and features the SS600cc class. At the start, Xiao Jin seems to be quick out of the blocks and maintains his position as the leader. Meanwhile Huang Shi-Zhao fell to third place after a few corners, overtaken by Huang Zhi-Yu. But Tianjian R6 still has a speed advantage and Huang Shi-Zhao took advantage of that by braking late into T1 to re-take his second place. After that he moves quickly to close in on Xiao Jin and the two riders are nose to tail on lap 3, the gap down to a mere 0.187 second.

On lap 4, Huang Shi-Zhao successfully passes Xiao Jin to take over the lead. By now, Xiao Jin begins to get into trouble as Huang Zhi-Yu behind him also begins to close in quickly. Behind the front running trio, Beijing’s Fastest Man Li Peng-Yu is not performing as well as he normally does. He was overtaken by Liang Yu-Xi at the start and is not able to match him, basically has no chance of reaching the podium.

But luck was on his side. Liang Yu-Xi suddenly loses his bike at T1 and slides off the track into retirement. Li Peng-Yu thus gains one position. In the middle of the race, Xiao Jin uses his physical strength to make one fastest lap after another to close in on Huang Shi-Zhao, adding pressure to the race leader.

On both lap 10 and 11, Xiao Jin gains 0.1 second on Huang Shi-Zhao, the duo begins a fierce battle for the lead. On lap 14, after a series of attacks and defenses, Xiao Jin finally takes the lead. Huang Shi-Zhao is not about to give up and he bites his lips and waits for his chance to fight back.

During the last 3 laps of the race, the experienced Huang Shi-Zhao uses a cunning racing line to cut back into the lead and then fights hard to maintain his marginal advantage until the finishing line. Xiao Jin and Haung Zhi-Yu finishes in second and third places.

150cc Open Class: Chen Xia-Lei the lone hero

As soon as the SS600cc race is over, the highly competitive 150cc Open class race is getting ready. As the red lights go out, the three SYM Jiguang Racing motorbikes spring to the front, but after just one lap, they were all overtaken by Chen Xiao-Lei at T1. The 3 SYM Jiguang riders soon forms a group hunt on the race leader. The three yellow bikes chase the singular red Wuyang-Honda bike, creating a spectacular battle.

In the middle of the race, Chen Xiao-Lei is having a hard time maintaining his lead. Zhou Hang-Kai is only 0.3 second behind him, then Qiu Ming-Xian, Qiu Shi-Yi, Chai Cheng-Yu and Zhou Sheng Jun-Jie follows. On lap 5, Chen Xiao-Lei can not resist SYM group’s attacks and drops down to 4th place. But, different from Chen Peng-Yuan in the first round, Chen Xiao-Lei is a veteran who has been active in the national racing scene for many years, he fights back and continues to pressure the leading trio. In the final 3 laps, he “scared off” SYM’s Zhou Hang-Kai and Qiu Shi-Yi and move up to second place. At the same time, his teammate Zhou Sheng Jun-Jie has also moved up to third, creating a very exciting atmosphere.

Maybe he is affected by his teammate’s fall, Qiu Ming-Xian’s rhythm is disturbed in the remaining race and he is soon overtaken by Chen Xiao-Lei. In the end, Young Cubs Racing, who performed rather disappointingly in round 1, bounced back here to win the race with Chen Xiao-Lei, with Qiu Ming-Xian second and Zhou Sheng Jun-Jie third.