17 Mar 2013 ZIC Superbike Race 1

On 16 March 2013 at Zhuhai International Circuit, while the northern part of the country is covered in snow, Zhuhai on the southern coast is warm and sunny. The 2013 Pan Delta Super Racing Festival's Spring Race opens the motorsport year. The special geographic location of Zhuhai has an advantage on weather and its 20 years history has helped groomed the local motorsport culture. 8 years of Pan Delta and each event attracting over 30,000 spectators. The event is attractive. On Saturday morning, just the qualifying sessions and the Red Bull Drifting Challenge pulled in a crowd of over 10,000. The packed grandstand is hallmark of this great event.

Pan Delta is a rare motorsport event that also feature races on Saturday. At 2pm, after a series of qualifying and warm-up sessions as well as the Red Bull Drifting Challenge, the hugely popular ZIC Superbike Race is ready to roar. Some of the best riders in the region are in the race, apart from the top duo Dan Kruger and Huang Shi-Zhao, there are also many experienced riders from Europe, America and Japan. Their arrival will not only enhance the spectacle but also help the local riders improve their standards.

According to qualifying results, Dan Kruger is on the pole position with Huang Shi-Zhao right alongside. Li Zheng-Peng is third and these three occupy the first row.

The red lights are off and the race begins. The high revving motorcyle engines give their roar and they sprint off to the first corner. Dan Kruger, on his green Kawasaki ZX10R takes the lead. Huang Shi-Zhao and Li Zheng-Peng follows closely behind. No. 46 Rosli also hangs on to the leading group.

On lap 2, the top duo begins to battle. Dan Kruger continues to lead and Huang Shi-Zhao follows with him, while the rest are beginning to fall behind. On lap 3, the gap between the two is 0.7 second and the rest are more than 3 seconds further back. At this moment, Huang suddenly accelerates and cuts into the corner, disturbing Dan Kruger's rythum and takes the lead. Now it is time for Dan to follow Shi-Zhao. He tries to re-take the lead but Shi-Zhao has his rear covered.

On lap 5, the gap between the duo is just a mere 0.06 second as they begin to lap the backmarkers. This is Dan Kruger's chance. Huang Shi-Zhao is the fastest and most experienced Chinese rider and he defends so well that Dan Kruger is finding it difficult to spot any chance. His qualifying advantage of over a second is of no consequence here. Huang's fastest lap so far is 1:37.641 while Dan can only manage 1:38.060.

On lap 6, before T13, Dan Kruger pressurize Huang Shi-Zhao from the outside of the corner and Huang tries to push him back and the two almost touched. But Huang Shi-Zhao has the racing line. On lap 8, Dan Kruger uses the slower traffic to his advantage and makes a surprise move, Huang, forced to slow down between two bikes, has to allow Dan Kruger to re-take the lead.

A lap later, the gap between the two grows to 2 seconds. The duo are over 20 seconds ahead of the second group of riders. On the last lap, Huang Shi-Zhao is not giving up and he uses Dan Kruger's own trick of using the backmarker to claim back the lead.

In the final corners, Huang Shi-Zhao holds on to his position and takes the chequered flag in first place, becoming the first winner of the 2013 Pan Delta Super Racing Festival. The track marshals offer their congratulations as he completes his slow down lap. Huang himself is also very emotional and he gets off the bike and kisses it. The scene raises a passionate response from the crowd as their cheer for their hero in such a great race.