26 Sep 2015 ZIC Superbike Race 2: Li Zheng-Peng is the new champion

 
On Sunday 20th September 2015, one of the most popular race of Pan Delta, ZIC Superbike is on track for the final race of the 2015 season. The points standings is very interesting. Mark Aitchison, who missed the Spring race, is on 75 points in third place, but with his speed he is favourite to win his fourth race of the season and finish with 100 points. Li Zheng-Peng is on 96 points and as long as he performs to his usual standard, he should be able to win the title. Huang Shi-Zhao is on 81 points and he will need Li Zheng-Peng to finish out of the points to have any chance. Realistically it is a battle for second place between Mark Aitchison and Huang Shi-Zhao.

Huang Shi-Zhao has won the ZIC Superbike title for the last 4 years. This year, after the upgrades to the Yamaha machines, Li Zheng-Peng has performed very well. Huang Shi-Zhao has been hampered by practice, race set-up and other logistics issues. He has also become the manager of the Yamaha team in the Asia Road Racing Series where Li Zheng-Peng is one of the riders. This is the final battle between the master and pupil this year.

Mark Aitchison starts on pole position, Huang Shi-Zhao second and Li Zheng-Peng third. These three occupies the front row.

One of the riders has a problem on the grid and the race officials decide to delay the start. Another warm-up lap is run.

Mark Aitchison makes a good start and leads into the first corner. Huang Shi-Zhao also makes a good getaway while Li Zheng-Peng has been more conservative and is down to 19th place on lap 1. Lap 2 and the gap between Mark and Shi-Zhao is up to 3 seconds. Li Zheng-Peng gives chase in the back, as he could lose the title if he finishes outside the points. On lap 3, he is up to 9th place.

Meanwhile Aitchison leads Huang by 8 seconds. Lap 7, Li Zheng-Peng is 7th. The riders near the front will be harder for him to get pass. Li is now the second fastest rider on track, just behind Aitchion.

Lap 6, #14 Chen De-Xian misses his braking and goes straight off track and into the sand trap. The rider then hits the retaining tire wall. The accident looks serious and the marshals show the yellow flag.

Lap 8, Li Zheng-Peng is up to fourth and is 8 seconds behind Huang Shi-Zhao. But he is not going to challenge Huang now. Lap 9, due to the extra warm up lap at the start, the race ends. The ZIC Superbike season is over. The order is Mark Aitchison, Huang Shi-Zhao and Li Zheng-Peng. Li is the new champion with 109 points. Huang Shi-Zhao ends with 101 points, just one point more than Aitchison.

After the race Mark says, "The clutch problem slowed us down yesterday. Today we changed some things especially the clutch. The bike is still not perfect. We are a little surprised that the Yamaha guys cannot go below 1:35. We will continue to develop the bike and I hope we can come back next year, everything depends on the factory. Everyone in the team have enjoyed racing here, thank you very much to everybody."

Li Zheng-Peng says,"This year the races have been good. We have to face a strong rival from overseas, that allowed me to learn more and find out where I am still lacking. I hope we will have more practice opportunities and I would like to thank the whole team for their support."

Huang Shi-Zhao said,"I am very happy with second place, thanks to my team and my teammate. Without their help I could not have achieved this good result. I was injured for the last race and it is hard to chase them in the championship. But with the team's support I did it. I congratulate my teammate on winning the title. He has done really well."

ZIC Superbike Race 2 Top 3 class finishers