31 Oct 2010 Xiao Jin blasts Chinese motorsport racing - 2010 CSBK Final Round Race 2 press conference

On 30 – 31 October 2010, 2010 China Superbike Championship Zhuhai Final Round was held at Zhuhai International Circuit. After the fierce competition in race 1, Yes! Yamaha Tianjian Racing’s Huang Shi-Zhao wins the final race of the season, completing an impressive record of 7 race wins out of 8. The final race of GP125cc class A is won by Zeng Jian-Hang, who returned mid-championship. Lingken Racing’s Zhang Hai-Long finished in third place, just enough for him to beat He Zi-Xian for the riders’ championship. In GP125cc class B, Mao Rui-Bin of Yongkee Majiri Racing took victory. In the 150cc Open Class, Tianyu DTU Racing’s Qiu Shi-Yi took his first win as well as 1st runner’s up in the riders’ championship. After the races, the top 3 riders of each class attended the press conference.

SS600cc class Winner

Huang Shi-Zhao (Yes! Yamaha Tianjian Racing)

Thank you very much everybody, today I took my seventh win of the season. At the beginning of the season I didn’t expect such good results. This is all due to the entire Yes! Yamaha Racing’s team effort, providing excellent engines and tyres for me to strengthen my training. I fell off many times during training, but in the end I didn’t waste the team’s efforts. I want to thank everyone for my victory in the 2010 Overall Championship, also the race fans who have supported CSBK.

(On a question about the gap between CSBK and Asian Pacific) Actually I have taken part in the Asian Pacific races in 2008 and 2009 and took one second place and one third place. For a mainland Chinese rider these were very good results. Although I felt the difference in tyres, we were competitive in terms of the relative skill level against the Asian Pacific riders. We raced in the MotoGP and that helped our skill levels. When we raced with Asian Pacific riders, we felt they have been racing all year and have a deeper racing culture compared with China. With the development of Chinese motorsports and the start of the CSBK, our riders have raced more. On this platform, we are totally capable of racing against Asian Pacific riders and achieving competitive results.

（About the championship’s development） Actually I feel money is a problem. I also feel China’s motorcycle sport should be organized by CMSA. Of course I think ZIC has given a great start to CSBK. I think an international promoter, like what they have in F1 and MotoGP, is very good. Motorsport is relatively more commercial and is different from an Olympic sport, it needs vast amount of money to operate. I think CMSA should have a similar way of operation like ZIC and CSBK. With 7 racing circuits in China there is potentially a 7 round championship. I think it is possible, but it needs some form of government support and ZIC to co-ordinate. I think it can be done.

（On de-restriction of foreign riders）As a rider, we race as best we can, regardless of what class we are in. Every rider will fight for the best result for his team. I feel we can accept foreign or wild card riders, but ultimately it is up to the championship operator ZIC to decide.

（On grooming young riders）To date I have taken part in motorsport for 15 years, when I started I spent my own money and my parents didn’t approve it. Later on I used my results and my career to prove to my parents that this sport is safe and it is a proper career. After more than 10 years, I am still a rider and I have my own team. I have mentored many young riders. Every time a new rider arrive I express my welcome. But they must first have the right mind. They cannot expect to achieve results just by being part of a team. When a teenager joins motorsports he definitely has his ambitions. He will want to achieve results for himself and his team. But this is a long process. Maybe the kid does not realize it, so we have to teach them everything, , in addition to riding skills. Therefore the workload for a team is huge. We are like their parents. We spend a lot of effort and money. All their training and gear cost a lot. Apart from these, we have to support them mentally and improve them psychologically. These are long term investments. Kids tend to be a bit naughty, they make mistakes, we need to educate them. That’s the reason why one must be very careful in picking a young rider. Their living habits are also very important.

SS600cc class 1st Runner’s Up

Xiao Jin (Yes! Yamaha Tianjian Racing)

The thing I want to say most of all is thank you to Yes! Yamaha Racing. I want to thank them for nurturing me. Also my mentors Xu Wen-Wu, Huang Shi-Zhao and Huang Zhi-Yu. The three of them taught me a lot of motorsport skills. Thank you Yamaha!

（About the gap between CSBK and ARRC）I think we need to race more against Asian Pacific riders. There are too few racing teams in China. At the moment CSBK is only supported by Yamaha. Others have either quit or cannot find good riders. Anyway I feel only Yes! Yamaha is supporting CSBK in China.

（About the championship’s development）I thank Zhuhai International Circuit for their great support in CSBK. We local riders go to take part in the MotoGP China Round, have to pay millions to buy his wild card. There was no support for Chinese riders. There were other cases, normally a circuit collects RMB 100 or RMB 150 for a test, maybe RMB 200 when we are racing there. I want to ask whether you are supporting Chinese motorsport or trying to chop us down. Anyway it is all about money. I feel ZIC is very supportive of Chinese motorsports.

（On grooming young riders）In my development, I need to thank my coach Xu Wen-Wu. He gave me the chance to race and allow me to test and train for free. He borrowed money to let me practice. He owed a lot of money and yet he is still here. A lot of Chinese motorcycle enterprises can learn from his spirit. Why did he do it? Because he loves racing. We have a lot of Chinese motorcycle manufacturers, they want to win at the word go. When they fail to win, they leave immediately. Why has Yamaha persisted? They have been winning world championships. Although they lost twice in CSBK, they are still persisting. Why? Why can’t the local manufacturers persist as well? They don’t even want to nurture new riders. I think all this needs to be learned. I hope there are more manufacturers here to support us Chinese riders.

SS600cc 2nd Runner’s up

Huang Zhi-Yu (Tianyu DTU Racing)

Of course I am happy to finish this race. I have taken part in 600cc races for 5 years, this race should be the best among all of them. My lap times have improved and I am thankful to my mechanics. For this race I have changed to a new direction, this result is quite close to Zhang Wei-An and Xiao Jin. Next year I may continue taking part in 600cc class, so we will continue in this direction. We will fight to be competitive against this year’s leaders in the future.

（About the gap between CSBK and ARRC）In my view, the difference between ARRC and us CSBK is that they have a very big and very strong sponsor behind them. With such huge support, they have a lot of resources and time on testing. We Chinese riders lack money. Hopefuly CMSA can help the teams to find some sponsors or pick a few riders to race internationally. We are getting near the international stage step by step. I believe Chinese riders cannot be worse than other countries’ riders. In 1.3 billion people there must be one or two who can get a good result!

（About the championship’s development）Actually there are seven racing circuits in China that we can race on. But as I said just now, our money is tight. Of course we want to race on all seven circuits twice and have a 14 round championship, that will make me really happy, but sadly our bank accounts do not support us to race like that. With every teams’ economic situation in mind, we choose to have 4 or 5 rounds a year and 2 races per round. That’s what we can support.

（On grooming young riders）I am here because I finished third in the race as a rider. But apart from that I am also run the Tianyu DTU Racing team. From my point of view, young people interested to join and become a race rider, their first hurdle is to get their parents’ approval for the sport. Then they should take part in the CRRC. CSBK team managers like ourselves attend CRRC races and look for talent. If they shows potential then we will bring them into CSBK, give them better environment and allow them to move up to a better platform. 

GP125cc A Winner

Zeng Jian-Hang (Chongqing Yuan XGJ Racing)

To win this race today has not been easy at all. In this race the three of us are very close in performance. From the start we have been exchanging places. I waited until the last corner on the last lap to take my chance and I won this race. I feel very happy. I don’t consider points in every one of my races. Almost every race I commit myself fully without thinking too much. I only learned of their points situation just now.

GP125cc A 1st Runner’s Up

He Zi-Xian (Kinlon Shenli Racing)

In today’s race I wanted to go fast as soon as it started. I feel today’s bike is much better than in race 1 and I can race hard. But I was still a bit tight. My bike’s top speed is slightly faster, but at lower speeds it is not as good and was harder to handle in the corners. Racing against the two of them, I was fighting until the last two corners, I tried to defend against Zeng but my line was too tight and he got through. That was a shame.

GP125cc A 2nd Runner’s Up

Zhang Hai-Long (Lingken Racing)

The afternoon race today was indeed more exciting. My aim was to follow He Zi-Xian, because our points difference was just 8 points, as long as I was directly behind him I would be overall champion. If I lost a place between us, then my championship would be gone. Today my bike’s nozzle was a little bit big and I could not follow them at the end of the straight. Today the three of us had a really marvelous race. Last race I was second, He Zi-Xian was in front of me, we were a point apart. Because Zeng Jian-Hang was really quick, we almost didn’t see him. While He Zi-Xian and I raced each other, his chain broke and fortunately I became the winner and pulled out a gap in the tables.

GP125cc B Winner
 
Mao Rui-Bin (Yongkee Majiri Racing)

I am very happy to win the last race today. I think my performance today was ideal. Yesterday, I was nervous at the start and everybody were gone while I was still immobile. Today I paid attention to relax myself and focus on the race. After the start I followed the class A riders. In the first few laps the other class B riders were behind me so I picked up my pace. In the second half of the race I found out that they have been left behind so I relaxed, I am very happy to have won.

GP125cc B 1st Runner’s Up

Ro Jian-Qing (Chongqing Yuan XGJ Racing)

Thanks to my team manager and mechanics for helping me to win this year’s championship. In the afternoon race today I was going to race openly, but after 4 laps my gearbox had a problem. Changing from 4th to 5th and from 5th to 6th was not possible. After that there was nothing I could do. I am still very happy to finish second in the end.
GP125cc B 2nd Runner’s Up

Liang Yu-Xi (Yongkee Majiri Racing)

I am very happy about this year’s races. I discovered I could learn from the masters. When I go home I will work hard on my training. Thank you to my team.

150cc Open Winner

Qiu Shi-Yi (Tianyu DTU Racing)

Right at the start of today’s race I decided to make a getaway. After two or three laps I successfully pulled out a gap. I thought that gap was okay and I then ran consistently to finish the race and took the win. I want to thank my team for providing an excellent bike. I also want to thank my mechanic, because yesterday I fell in the practice session and the bike was slightly damaged. The mechanic worked hard to fix the bike so that I can have a good race today.

150cc Open 1st Runner’s Up

Zhai Zi-Yang (S&S Racing Team)

First of all I would like to thank my team manager and mechanic. Although my bike was not the fastest, my team manager and mechanic spent a lot of effort to make it better. But I was not happy with today’s performance, I found that I was one second slower than yesterday. In the end I just didn’t feel good. Just now on the podium I was thinking I should spend more time to learn to become a better rider.

150cc Open 2nd Runner’s Up

Yu Yang (S&S Racing Team)

At the start of today’s race, I was in the lead on the first lap, after I was passed by Qiu Shi-Yi and Zhai Zi-Yang, I made a small mistake and lost ground. That’s why I was left slightly behind until the end of the race. Today my form was not as good as yesterday, just average.