09 Oct 2014 ZIC Superbike season ends Huang Shi-Zhao wins again

At 14:30 on 21 September 2014, race 2 of ZIC Superbike Series is set to begin. As the final race of the season, this race will decide who will be crowned champion of 2014. With Huang Shi-Zhao on 99 points, Dan Kruger on 88 points and Benjamin Burke with 75 points, all three have a chance of claiming the title as the winner of the race gets 25 points. Huang Shi-Zhao is the clear favourite as he only needs to finish third to be champion again.

    
The front row trio are the same as race 1: Benjamin Burke, Huang Shi-Zhao and Dan Kruger. The second qualifying session is held straight after the first so the conditions are very similar and for professional riders such as these, it is very difficult to achieve different results.

The race begins and Huang Shi-Zhao tries to put pressure on Benjamin Burke as he moved to the left side. But Benjamin still makes it to the first corner in the lead. The front three are in the same order as they started as they enter turn 9. But Benjamin makes a mistake here and runs off the track onto the grass, handing the lead to Huang. Benjamin Burke makes his way back into the field but is already at the tail end. His championship chances are now looking very dim.

Huang Shi-Zhao begins to lead and at the beginning of lap 2 he leads Dan Kruger by a second. On lap 3, Huang Shi-Zhao goes quicker and the gap between him and Dan Kruger is now 2.5 seconds. Benjamin Burke is struggling to get past all the other riders in the back.

On lap 4, Benjamin Burke has hauled himself up to 8th place. He should be able to get back to the leading group soon if he maintains his progress. Meanwhile Hu Zhao-Neng and Li Zheng-Peng are having a good battle, the two riders fighting for position over two laps and is now the centre of attention. On lap 6, Benjamin Burke is up to fifth, right behind Li Zheng-Peng. Burke passes Li and makes a fastest lap at the same time: 1:37.701. On the next lap Benjamin Burke is already in third place, back to familiar territory. But by now Huang Shi-Zhao is 15 seconds ahead.

Although Huang meets some backmarkers, his lead is safe. Two laps from the end and Benjamin Burke is still behind Dan Kruger in third place. Finally, Huang Shi-Zhao crosses the line to win the race. After the struggle yesterday Huang finally ends the season with a triumph and successfully wins the series championship. Dan Kruger finishes second and also claims the 1st runner's up in the series. Benjamin Burke also takes third place, both in this race and in the series.

In other classes, Li Zheng-Peng completes a perfect season by taking six class wins out of six to six to win the class 2 series. In class 3, Yuan Ji-Bo is the series winner.