06 Aug 2012 Zamri: Ends the drought

Malaysian rider Mohd Zamri Baba has finally ended his winning drought in the PETRONAS Asia Road Racing Championship when he put up a determined performance to win Race 1 of the SuperSports 600cc category in Round 3 of the 2012 series held in Zhuhai on August 5, 2012.

The dramatic race began with Katsuaki Fujiwara taking the early lead from his pole position at the start of the race. The defending champion was followed by Zamri, Ryuichi Kiyonari and wildcard rider Yuki Ito. For the first half of the race, none of the four riders in the lead were able to pull away from each other. Behind them, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman and M. Fadli were also engaged in a fierce battle for P5.
 
On lap 13, a malfunctioning engine caused Fujiwara to slow down unexpectedly, allowing Zamri, Kiyonari and Ito easy passage through to the front of the pack. Zamri held hard for the lead, despite increasing pressure from Kiyonari who out-braked and overtook the PETRONAS Hong Leong Yamaha Malaysia rider at Turn 1 of Lap 16. Zamri responded in kind on Lap 17, and the lead swapped hands several times in the final lap before Zamri finally outsprinted Kiyonari to the finish line with a time of 29:40.562s, 0.273 seconds ahead of the second-placed Kiyonari.
 
"I was determined to win today, at all costs. During the last lap battle, I was ready to take it to the brink and beyond to get this win, and I am really glad that my efforts have paid off," said Zamri.
 
Yuki Ito became the best performing wildcard rider in the SuperSports 600cc class of the season when he finished on the podium in third place with 29:47.511s. Behind the winning trio, M. Fadli finally won over Azlan Shah in their private battle. Fadli finished fourth with 29:52.146s and Azlan fifth with 29:57.499s.
 
Meanwhile, Katsuaki Fujiwara who had been dropping in pace in every successive lap finally managed to limp to the finish line in 15th place.