17 Sep 2016 Aitchison wins comfortably - ZIC Superbike Race 1000cc

On Saturday 17 September 2016, ZIC Superbike 1000cc’s first race begins at 13:30. After an eight laps race, Mark Aitchison wins the race overall, the fast starting Li Zheng-Peng takes second while a mechanically troubled Huang Shi-Zhao finished in third place with a last ditch pass.

Bigger capacotu amd bigger noise, ZIC Superbike Race 1000cc fills its grid with veteran riders like Huang Shi-Zhao and Zhang Wei-An. It is the premier motorcycle race in the country. At noon the heat makes newly entered riders like Shintaro Nakayama cries “this is tougher than Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race!” When the start signal is given, the field goes through T1 safely, #116 Mark Aitchison soon starts to pull away from the rest. By the end of lap 1 he already holds a 2 seconds advantage. Li Zheng-Peng also benefits from his own good start and despite being unable to keep up with Mark, nonetheless he is well ahead of the chasing pack.

From lap two onwards every rider begins to speed up. Mark Aitchison completes a 1:33 fastest lap. At this moment Huang Shi-Zhao, who suffered from mechanical problems at the start, passes Zhang Wei-An for fourth place. Mark continues to lead the way and Li Zheng-Peng is also clear from the rest, the duo leads comfortably at the front.

On lap 4 Huang Shi-Zhao begins to attack Mitsunori Okamura. The two rider begin a great battle. On lap 6, Li Zheng-Peng leads the chasing pack by the length of the main straight, while Mark Aitchison is way out of sight, raising about who will be the winner or 1st runner’s up. The focus is on the fight for third place between Huang Shi-Zhao and Mitsunori Okamura. On this lap Huang manages a fastest lap that is 0.5 second faster than Okamura. But Okamura is an experienced rider and he defends his position very well.
 
Soon the race enters its final lap. Mark Aitchison and Li Zheng-Peng cross the finish line with no trouble, taking victories in Open A and Open B classes respectively. Behind them Huang Shi-Zhao beat Mitsunori Okamura at T9 with a last ditch effort, taking third place overall and second place in the Open A class.

Mark Aitchison said after the race that he made a good start and soon found a nice rhythm, near the end of the race he was able to run some tests on the new parts as well. He predicts he will perform even better in the race tomorrow.

In Huang Shi-Zhao’s review, he said he had a mechanical problem at the start and lost some places. He then followed and pressured the rider in front of him, finally succeeded in overtaking at T9. He hopes that after fixing the bike he will perform better tomorrow.

In the Open B class, Li Zheng-Peng said he did not feel any great pressure in the race. He followed Mark’s rhythm in the early stages, but after Mark pulls away he just runs his own race, taking class victory without trouble in the end. After this round, he already takes his fifth championship due to his superiority in the points table. Second inn class was Zhang Wei-An. He had a brake problem in qualifying, so he was slightly concerned before the start. He found his form in the middle of the race, he even thought about overtaking an Open A class rider in front of him. So he was happy to be second. New entry to ZIC Superbike, Shintaro Nakayama finished third in class. After a few days acclimatising at the circuit, he is very fond of the circuit, the race and the atmosphere. “This is a great circuit, today was very hot and this race is tougher than Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance race.”