Yamalube AHM’s Ahmad Fazrul Sham consolidated his CP130 lead in the overall standings when he blazed to his third consecutive victory in a dramatic wet race in Round 6 of the PETRONAS AAM Malaysian Cub Prix Championship at Kangar, Perlis on Sunday. The 31-year old wrapped up the 18-lap race in 14’15.696s in a hard fought battle against Ahmad Afif Amran.
The two riders were seen going neck-to-neck before Fazrul Sham got the best of his PETRONAS Yamaha CKJ rival heading into the chicane in the final lap, where in a desperate attempt to claim his first victory for the season, Afif clipped Fazrul Sham’s rear tyre and crashed.
Fazrul Sham went on to win the race with a 4.352 second advantage while Afif was able to recover his Yamaha and finish as runner-up in 14’20.048s.
Reigning CP130 champion, Zaqhwan Zaidi (Givi Honda Yuzy Racing) surpassed Rozaiman Mohd Said (Harian Metro Y-TEQ SCK Honda Racing) to steal third spot on the podium in 14’20.422s.
Afif’s teammates, Mohd Fitri Ashraf Razali and Mohd Affendi Rosli who were seen leading the race in the first two laps retired after crashing out in lap-2 and lap-6 respectively.
Hauling 95 points, Fazrul Sham opens up a 25 points advantage over his older brother, Ahmad Fazli Sham (PETRONAS Yamaha Maju Motor) who finished 10th today followed by Abdul Muhaimin Roslan.
“I’ve never been good racing in the wet so winning here in Kangar was a huge surprise. This was only possible because we had a competitive bike thanks to the engineers,” said Fazrul Sham.
He went on to elaborate on the race, “We had a good start, I could maintain my position (P3) coming out of the first turn with Fitri and Affendi leading the race. But in lap-2 Fitri crashed and slowed Affendi and me down. Afif took the opportunity and slipped into the lead. Fortunately I managed to close the gap and overtake him in lap-4. From there I did my best to cover my lines and not crash.”
Commenting on his championship lead, Fazrul said 25-points is not enough to get comfortable just yet.
“25 points can’t guarantee me the CP130 title as we have four more races to go and as we’ve seen today, anything can happen. So my focus is to take a race-by-race approach, consistently get on the podium and pick up points,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin continued his domination over the CP115 field when he chalked up his fourth straight victory.
The PETRONAS Yamaha Maju Motor youngster who took off from pole led the race from start to finish with little resistance from rivals, completing the 15-lap race in 11’58.770s.
Despite his best efforts trying to keep up with Kasma, PETRONAS Yamaha CKJ’s Ahmad Syukran Aizat could only finish second in 12’03.520s while Iqbal Amri Abdul Malek struck gold when teammate, Fareez Afeez who was running third crashed in the final lap. The Felda PB Racing rider clocked 12’06.504s.
Kasma now leads the CP115 title chase with 120 points with Tengku Amirul Haffiruddin (Motul Yamaha YY Pang) running in second with 86 points followed by Ahmad Syukran third, 69 points.
In other developments, Harith Farhan Baharin bounced back from a poor qualifying run to secure his fifth straight win and extend his championship lead in the WIRA category.
The Kozi Yam Honda Racing rider muscled his way through the pack from fifth row before taking down Felda AFB Tech Cardinals Racing duo, Irfan Rosnizam and Saiful Izman Ahmad Zamani who were leading the race in lap 7.
Irfan crashed the following lap and Harith took advantage of the situation to build up a gap, eventually wrapping up the 12-lap race in 9’27.114s ahead of Saiful Izman in second place with 9’30.168s.
Poleman, Khairul Ikhwan Ajis (Espada Williams Racing) who led the opening lap recovered from an early high side to finish third in 9’31.944s.
Harith pilots the WIRA standings with 145 points ahead of Saiful Izman and Khairul Ikhwan with 93 points and 70 points respectively.
Round 7 of the PETRONAS AAM Malaysian Cub Prix Championship will be held at Teluk Intan, Perak this 19-20 September.
Results
CP130 Race
1.Ahmad Fazrul Sham (Yamaha) 14’15.696s
2.Ahmad Afif Amran (Yamaha) 14’20.048s
3.Zaqhwan Zaidi (Honda) 14’20.048s
4.Adib Rosley (Yamaha) 14’27.391s
5.Rozaiman Mohd Said (Honda) 14’28.248s
Overall Standings
1.Ahmad Fazrul Sham (Yamaha) 95 points
2.Ahmad Fazli Sham (Yamaha) 70 points
3.Abdul Muhaimin Roslan (Yamaha) 69 points
4.Zamri Baba (Honda) 60 points
5.Ahmad Afif Amran (Yamaha) 58 points
Team Awards
1.PETRONAS Yamaha Maju Motor 156 points
2.Yamalube AHM 133 points
3.PETRONAS Yamaha CKJ 128 points
4.Harian Metro Y-TEQ SCK Honda Racing 128 points
5.Motul Yamaha YY Pang 98 points
CP115 Race
1.Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin (Yamaha) 11’58.770s
2.Ahmad Syukran Aizat (Yamaha) 12’03.520s
3.Iqbal Amri Abd Malek (Yamaha) 12’06.504s
4.Fareez Afeez (Yamaha) 12’06.784s
5.Azam Omar (Yamaha) 12’10.474s
Overall Standings
1.Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin (Yamaha) 120 points
2.Tengku Amirul Haffiruddin (Yamaha) 86 points
3.Ahmad Syukran Aizat (Yamaha) 69 points
4.Fareez Afeez (Yamaha) 53 points
5.Emir Firdaus Hasan (Yamaha) 52 points
Team Awards
1.PETRONAS Yamaha Maju Motor 140 points
2.Motul Yamaha YY Pang 131 points
3.PETRONAS Yamaha CKJ 113 points
4.FELDA PB Racing A 102 points
5.M Seki Liberty Honda 63 points
WIRA Race
1.Harith Farhan Baharin (Honda) 9’27.114s
2.Saiful Izman Ahmad Zamani (Yamaha) 9’30.168s
3.Khairul Ikhwan Ajis (Yamaha) 9’31.944s
4.Izzat Rafiq (Yamaha) 9’33.175s
5.Amirul Hakim Rizal (Yamaha) 9’34.946s
Overall Standings
1.Harith Farhan Baharin (Honda) 145 points
2.Saiful Izman Ahmad Zamani (Yamaha) 93 points
3.Khairul Ikhwan Ajis (Yamaha) 70 points
4.Amirul Hakim Rizal (Yamaha) 62 points
5.Irfan Rosnizam (Yamaha) 58 points
