Asia Road Racing Championship, AP250 class pre race

Chang International Circuit May 31 – June 2, 2019

This season sees the introduction of a new rule to bring equality by balancing the performance of of the motorcycles by reducing the RPM limit.  A reduction of 500 RPM will take effect once any of the top four riders obtains a 25 point lead over the other riders in the top 5 and stays in place for the remainder of the season.  Further RPM reductions will take place if a 50 point advantage and then a 75 point advantage comes into play.  OK so how has the season started for this class?

Race 1  saw first time competitor in the series, Lucky Hendriansyah take the win from fifth on the grid and within the space of a lap, began challenging Andy Muhammad Fadly for the lead.  These two riders challenged each other to the chequered flag after Lucky took the lead on lap 2.  Irfan Ardiansyah joined them on the podium for 3^rd place.

After a DNF in race 1 Muklada Sarapuech celebrated with a comeback victory in Race 2 for Round 1.

From pole position she started strong but lost the lead to  Lucky Hendriansya who was looking for his second  win of the weekend. The front runners which included Andy Muhammad Fadly  had pulled a 1-second gap ahead of the remaining field

Lucky ran wide at Turn 14 of the final lap as Muklada and Andy sped by and raced each other to the chequered flag which Muklada was able to reach first. Awhin Sanjaya took P3 after Lucky Hendriansyah’s machine stalled on the last corner.

Race 1 of round 2 was a two horse affair between team mates Fadly and Aiki Iyoshi.  Fadly edging out his team mate Aiki by 0.147s.  Muklada Sarapuech joined them on the podium for 3^rd place.

Race 2 saw  Aiki  take the win and also the lease in the series after round 2. Andy Muhammad Fadly was racing with 500rpm less but was out of the race early after crashing. Muklada Sarapuech was the early leader but due to mechanical problems could only finish second.  Her team mate, Tatchakorn Buasri joined them on the podium in third.

Aiki is the new AP250 leader followed by team mate Andy Muhammad Fadly in second.  Muklada Sarapuech holds 3^rd place in the series as the championship heads to her home track in Buriram where she will be hoping to continue last years success with a win or two.

Roy McIntosh is a freelance writer and photographer based in Buriram.