INTENSE RACE TO QUALIFY FOR RC CUP FINAL
ROUND 4 of the Malaysia Superbike Championship saw the final qualification round for the KTM RC Cup Asia.
Only three of the top riders from Asia will inherit the right to go to Jerez Circuit in Spain for the RC Cup Final. The top three were Malaysians, closely followed by riders from China and Singapore who had a mathematical chance to gain one of the top three placings.
Zhou Shengjunjie and M. Aiman Nabil Shaharum were 16 and 23 points, respectively, adrift of third-placed man, Ahmad Idham Khairudin (younger brother of Zulfahmi Khairudin, who races in the World SuperSport category in the World Superbike Championship).
First and second were M. Ibrahim Mohd Norrodin (younger brother of Adam Norrodin, Moto 3 rider) and M. Izam Ikmal Izamli, well clear of the rest of the field.
The RC Cup has been successful thus far, attracting riders from all over Asia to compete for the chance to get to Jerez. Riders from Japan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Australia had taken advantage of the relatively cheap racing and attractive packages that the RC Cup Asia offered.
Held in the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), the RC Cup has three categories; Orange, Silver and Bronze but only the Orange category is eligible for the RC Cup Finals.
The Silvers race the same RC390s as the Orange category but they race for points and prize money. The Bronze category races the RC250 bikes.
The fourth round saw a 29 riderlineup on the grid, a respectable showing of support for the class.
The main attraction of the RC Cup is the fact that it is being held all over the world, from Germany to America, and that the Jerez finals will be held on October 20-22 as a support race to the World Superbike Championship penultimate round. However, there will be a final, standalone fifth round in SIC on November 24-26.
The winning riders from all countries hosting the RC Cup will converge on Jerez to discover who will be the ultimate RC390 rider.
It was Zhou Shengjunjie who took an early lead in Race 1, but Ibrahim Norrodin and Izam Ikmal moved past him by the fifth lap to establish themselves in the front.
Wildcard Australian rider Billy van Eerde, only racing here in SIC for the second time, then took advantage of back markers towards the middle of the race and pushed his way to the front by the ninth lap and holding on for the win.
Ibrahim had to settle for second place, with Izam taking the third, followed by Filipino rider Ralph Kenneth Torres in the fourth and Idham Khairudin taking the fifth position.
Intermittent rainfall in the afternoon resulted in a slightly wet track for the riders in Race 2.
Ibrahim and Izam once again took the early lead, joined by Torres, but as the trio jostled for position, van Eerde and Zhou caught up with them by the eighth lap to form a leading pack of five.
The second half of the race was the most intense so far in the whole RC Cup Asia series, with the five riders barely separated by two seconds and the lead being exchanged numerous times throughout the final laps.
Izam capitalised on the competition ahead of him to slip into the lead during the final lap and just about held off the challenge of Ibrahim to secure his first victory in the series by just 0.024 seconds (by far the closest winning time split after eight races).
Idham finished in sixth place, one position behind Zhou, but he had done enough to secure third place in the overall championship standings and in doing so, denied Zhou a place in the World Finals.
The championship standings after Round 4 has Ibrahim on top of the standings with 172 points, followed by Izam with 159 points and Idham with 105 points.