30 Oct 2010 Decha owns first qualifying

Decha Kraisat proved he is quick to bounce back despite crashing in the free practice earlier today as he clocked the best lap time in the SuperSports600cc first qualifying here at the Zhuhai International Circuit, host to Round 5 of the PETRONAS Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC).

The PETRONAS Yamaha Thailand rider astride his Yamaha YZF-R6 timed the fastest lap with 1:39.863s followed by teammate, Chalermpol Polamaisecond with 1:40.026s in lap 18. Third fastest for the day was Malaysian rider, MdZamriBaba with 1:40.148s.

Though fastest, Decha, who leads the current SuperSports 600cc overall standings is far from satisfied as he did not hit his personal target. "My goal today was to hit 1:38s but instead I clocked 1:39.863s. It may not look much but in racing it does. In that sense, I’m not satisfied with my pace quite yet," said the Thai rider.

Nevertheless, Decha remains optimistic. He looks forward to a better run in the second qualifying hoping to transform it into a pole position tomorrow. "Not all is lost because this is just our first day here. We got one more free practice and qualifying to go and I believe most riders will pick up the pace then."

When asked to evaluate his experience returning to ZIC, Decha commented, "It's unusually chilly and normally it’s not this time of the year. If it was just cold it would have been okay but there was strong wind. To control the bike going against strong wind is extremely tricky and I slidedmore than I should just now. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow."

Meanwhile, Japanese rider, Toshiyuki Hamaguchi (Moto-Rev India) with 1:40.201s registered fourth fastest in the first qualifying. Chinese rider, Li Zhen Pengperformed well on home-track clocking in sixth fastest with 1:40.554s and M.Fadli (PETRONAS Yamaha Indonesia) came in ninth with 1:41.902s.
As for the Underbone115cc, RafidTopanSucipto of CKJ Motorsports Racing Team set the pace early clocking in 2:12.085s just after six laps. Second fastest was compatriot Hadi Wijaya (Kawasaki NHK RextorMTR Manual Tech Racing) with 2:12.322s and teammate, M. Reza Fahlevi third 2:13.624s.

Happy to top the timesheet, Rafid commented, "I'm satisfied with my results today. This shows that my Yamaha is at an optimum level. So right now I want to focus on improving my riding as I think I still lack mileage on this circuit. Hopefully I can go faster tomorrow," said the Indonesian rider.

Prawat Yannawut (PETRONAS Yamaha Thailand) was the best rider from Thailand in this category securing fifth placing with 2:14.729s while Md Rozaiman Md Said (MotulYamaha YY Pang) from Malaysia timed 2:15.448s.