29 May 2022 One win apiece for Jack Ao Ieong and Li Zheng-Peng - Speed Hero Race One and Two
On 28-29 May, Zhuhai International Circuit welcomes the long awaited ZMA Club Race’s final day. Speed Hero main race is first on track. The riders arrive on track with their Yamaha YZF-R6, BMW HK4, Kawasaki ZX-10R etc for a race each in the morning and in the afternoon. In the end, Silver Steed Racing #99 Jack Ao Ieong and Yamaha China Racing Li Zheng-Peng take one win each.
Race One
Speed Hero Race One is held at 9am and the distance is 10 laps. 21 riders are taking part. At the start, #99 Jack Ao Ieong maintains his lead position, with #26 Li Zheng-Peng following closely. Behind the leading duo, #96 and #68 falls off the circuit at T4. The race officials display the red flag to stop the race. Then the weather turns bad and a downpour occurs. The race is further delayed. 28 minutes later the race finally resumes with the distance shortened to 7 laps. Fast restart procedure is carried out. Once again #99 Jack Ao Ieong leads and he pulls away from the rest of the field. #26 Li Zheng-Peng started from the pit lane and is down in 11th place. Later #19 goes off track at T11 and the yellow caution flags are shown.
As the rain returns the track becomes increasingly slippery, #12 and #27 slides off into the gravel traps. By now #99 Jack Ao Ieong has extended his lead to nearly 6 seconds. #17 Lin Zhi-Fei and #36 Jiang Zuo-Ran are second and third, while Li Zheng-Peng is up to fourth overall.
On the last lap, the battle for second place intensifies. #26 Li Zheng-Peng makes two overtakes and moves up to second place overall. #17 Lin Zhi-Fei manages to defend his third place. The race finishes and the top 3 overall are #99 Jack Ao Ieong, #26 Li Zheng-Peng and #17 Lin Zhi-Fei.
Post-Race Interview
After the race, Speed Hero Race One winner Jack Ao Ieong said, “Today the weather changes greatly, it is very rare in my many years experience. In the end the correct tyre choice helped me secure this victory. For the second race this afternoon I am very confident also and hopes to win that as well.”
Race Two
Circuit Hero Race Two officially starts at 13:18. Since #26 Li Zheng-Peng set the fastest race lap in race one, he gets to start from the pole position. After the start, #99 Jack Ao Ieong springs to the lead in T1, with #26 Li Zheng-Peng and #17 Lin Zhi-Fei following behind him.
On lap 3, #26 Li Zheng-Peng closes in on #99 Jack Ao Ieong. The gap between them is just 0.393 second. By this time #19 Chen Hong-Yan has also charged his way through the field from last position to the front, passing #17 Lin Zhi-Fei in the process and is third overall. On lap 4, #26 Li Zheng-Peng successfully overtakes #99 Jack Ao Ieong at T10 and into the lead.
At half distance, #26 Li Zheng-Peng slowly pulls away. At the same time #27 Zhou Feng-Long makes successive overtaking moves and rises up to sixth place overall. In the various classes, #17 Lin Zhi-Fei, #22 Sha Jun-Tong and #24 Guo Jie are in the lead of CL1, CL2 and CL3 respectively.
Final two laps, #26 Li Zheng-Peng goes even quicker and sets the fastest race lap overall 1:37.259. #36 Jiang Zuo-Ran overtakes #27 Zhou Feng-Long at T14 and takes over sixth spot. After that there are no more order changes and the top 3 overall are #26 Li Zheng-Peng, #99 Jack Ao Ieong and #19 Chen Hong-Yan.
Post-Race Interview
After the race, Speed Hero race two winner Li Zheng-Peng said, “The wet-dry conditions of the track in the afternoon affected my pace a little. My start was not good but I managed to take my opportunity to overtake. I am very happy to have won. I hope that my form will improve and I can perform even better in the next Speed Hero race.”