SATURDAY 16TH JUNE
Report and pictures by Roy McIntosh
Practice got underway at 8am on Saturday with each class given either 15 or 20 minutes of track time to get their bikes setup for the qualifying sessions. Today is the final day for practice and qualifying for the races taking place on Sunday.
Qualifying sessions took place for Open 400cc (Class D1, D2), Open 400cc (Class D3), Super Stock 1000cc (Class ST3), Super Sport 600cc (Class SS1, 2), Super Stock 1000cc (Class ST1, 2),
Super Bike 1000cc (Class SB1, 2), Super Bike 1000cc (Class SB3).
Tomorrows racing is looking to be very close and exciting.
The day was finished off with three races for the younger riders continuing on from yesterday. First on the track was the Honda Thailand Challenge Cup for their first race followed by the Yamaha R3 Thailand Challenge Cup and the Yamaha R15 Thailand Challenge Cup 2nd races.
Honda Thailand Challenge Cup Race 1
The Honda race was a close one with the early laps being contested by a group of seven riders led by rider #6 Warit Thongnoppakun from pole position followed by second placed rider #9 Piyawat Patoomyos and rider #19 Herjun Atna Firdus from P2 and P3 on the grid respectively.
It was not long before #6 Warit Thongnoppakun was establishing his dominance on the race as the following pack reduced to five riders with the positions changing each lap. After 6 laps the first three riders were beginning to pull away with Thongnoppakun leading. With two laps to go Thongnoppakun stretched his lead with the following four riders bunching up again behind him.
The last lap saw rider #19 Herjun Atna Firdus fade away from the top two and slipping to fourth place behind rider #4 Napaht Poonplabprom. The race finished with #6 Warit Thongnoppakun winning, deservedly holding off the other riders, followed in second place by #9 Piyawat Patoomyos and #4 Napaht Poonplabprom coming home third, making it an all Thai podium. The second race on Sunday will no doubt be as close and exciting.
Yamaha R3 Thailand Challenge Cup Race 2
The grid positions for the Yamaha R3 Thailand Challenge Cup were decided on the fastest lap for each rider in the first race.
A good start by rider #5 Jirigat Teeranupong from sixth place on the starting grid saw him lead the race on the opening lap followed closely by #28 Jack Hyde from fifth on the grid with #101 Kiadtisak Chauywiset, who started from pole position, in third place.
The order stayed this way until the fourth lap when #28 Jack Hyde emerged as the leader. Over the next couple of laps the lead was contested by a group of six riders, the lead changing hands several times.
On the final lap #28 Jack Hyde took the lead and looked to have the win sewn up but on the last corner #5 Jirigat Teeranupong managed to muscle his way into the lead to take the chequered flag.
#28 Jack Hyde finished second with #86 Suttipat Patchareetron taking the final podium position in this very closely fought race. Following the post race scrutineering of the top 3 bikes it was found that #5 Jirigat Teeranupong had a technical infringement and was excluded from the race results. This meant that Jack Hyde was elevated to first place for his second win in this series this weekend, #86 Suttipat Patchareetron was the eventual second placed rider with #101 Kiadtisak Chauywiset taking the third place slot.
For the under 16 age group in first place was #86 Sawapol Nilpong (overall 4th), #200 Suttipoj Patchareetorn (overall 14th) and third place #19 Wuthipong Kanlayanaphan.
Yamaha R15 Thailand Challenge Cup Race 2
As with the Yamaha R3 race the Yamaha R15 Thailand Challenge Cup 2nd race grid positions were decided on the fastest lap for each rider in the first race.
From the start rider #2 Suttipoj Patchareetorn took the early lead followed by #15 Torsak Nuasai and #10 Sawapol Nilpongthat. The race was dominated by these three riders throughout as they steadily increased their lead over the rest of the field as they did in race 1.
At the finish the positions were P1 – #10 Sawapol Nilpongthat, P2 – #15 Torsak Nuasai and P3 – #2 Suttipoj Patchareetorn, third place came in less than half a second behind the lead and there was nearly an eleven second gap to the fourth place rider showing the dominance of the top three.
Interestingly this series is for under 16 years age group, the youngest of which was 11 year old rider #14 Sanhanat Sanhyi who finished a creditable P12 in the field of 15 riders.