24 Dec 2013 ZIC Superbike 3 Hours Race - Huang wins as Dan runs out of fuel

At 8:40am on 22 December 2013, ZIC Superbike 3 Hours Race commences at Zhuhai International Circuit. The circuit is enjoying good sunshine with little wind. Temperature is 11 degree C as it is still very early in the morning. The conditions are good for racing.

Pole position is occupied by Dan Kruger in his Kawasaki 1000cc superbike. Second on the grid is Dan's strong competitor from the Pan Delta Super Racing Festival, Huang Shi-Zhao. Third on the grid is Zhao Hao-Yun. This trio will fight for the first corner. Although in a 3 hours race, leading the first corner or the first lap is not vital, a good start is always a good thing.

No. 71 Dan Kruger sprints away at the start and within two laps he has built a 5 seconds lead. No. 27 and no. 15 are racing each other fiercely, with no. 15 moving into third place on lap 3. No. 19 Ouyang Fu and Michel Dalarace are also close behind.

On lap 18 leader no. 71 pits for a change and that promotes no. 9 to first place. But at this time an oil leak at T4 by another motorcycle caused successive accidents, the safety car is deployed so the track marshals can clean up the oil. All the teams use this opportunity to pit and make rider changes.

After a series of stops, no. 9 continues to lead while no. 15 and no. 19 also make it to the top 3. No. 71 is now down in fourth place and not even leading class 1.

But not all things go smoothly for the leader, no. 9 is judged to have made an overtaking move under yellow flags. On lap 32 it goes into the pits for a drive-through penalty. Similarly, no. 6 also makes the same mistake and on lap 33 comes in for its drive-through. No. 71 has make up some lost ground and now runs in second place, 20 seconds behind no. 9, the race leader.

On lap 41, no. 71 finally takes the lead back from no. 9, but just a few laps later it has to pit for a rider change. The top two are fighting tooth and nail and it is very hard to call.

At half distance, the order is 9, 71, 19, 6, 3, 15 and 27. No. 9 is now leading by a minute. The closest rival for no. 9 in class 2 is no. 15, who is 3 laps behind and is not a threat. No. 71 leads class 1 but not by a great margin, no. 19 is still close behind and will pounce on any mistakes made by no. 71.

After two hours of racing, no. 9 and no. 71 have extended their advantages. The gap among the other teams are also rather big. On lap 72, no. 6 gets another drive-through penalty for yellow flag overtaking. This makes them vulnerable to no. 62 and no. 3. The gap among them is only 10 seconds. On lap 78, no. 3 overtakes no. 6 for sixth place.

On lap 83, no. 27 also begins to recover its lost grounds and gets to within 3 seconds of no. 15 in fourth place.

In the last 10 minutes of the race, no. 71 finally takes the lead again from no. 9 and then pulls out a 11 second lead. With victory in sight, it suddenly pits again, allowing no. 9 Huang Shi-Zhao/Li Zheng-Peng to win the race overall as well as class 2.

No. 71 Dan Kruger said, "I ran out of fuel so I had to stop. Because of the use of the safety car, our fuel calculations went wrong. Without the safety car's intervention we surely would have won the race. But that's racing, these things happen and cannot be predicted."

Winner no. 9 Huang Shi-Zhao said, "My motorcycle suffered a brake problem and we had to pit to have it repaired. I was not able to race hard all day. To win today  my team and I are very happy."

Class 1 winner is Dan Kruger/Geoffrey Ian Mark Giles；1st runner's up is no 19 Ouyang Fu/Michel Dalarace and second runner's up is no.6 Fan Zhong-Ming/Ye Xian-Gui.

In class 2，the winning duo is no. 9 Huang Shi-Zhao/Li Zheng-Peng. 1st runner's up is no. 15 Hu Zhao-Neng/Yuan Ji-Bo/Yu Chun-Hao. 2nd runner's up is Zhao Hao-Yun/Max Lau/Zhang Wei-An.