#24 STRENGTHENS LEAD 31 October 2010

Thai rider, Decha Kraisat takes a step closer to bagging the 2010 SuperSports 600cc PETRONAS Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) title following his triumph bagging two chequered flags here at the Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) today.

The PETRONAS Yamaha Thailand extended his lead to 158 points after successfully winning both SuperSports 600cc races. Second on the chart comes teammate, Chalermpol Polamai with 126 points and Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (PETRONAS Yamaha Malaysia) landed third with 123 points.

When asked if he is confident of securing his second SuperSports 600cc title, the humble Decha commented, "I can't help but feel great winning both races here in Zhuhai. It gives me more confidence to pursue the title but this is racing, and anything can happen in the final leg at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. Hopefully everything will go well there in December."

RACE 1

In Race 1, Decha used his pole advantage and took an early lead before the first turn. A good start coupled with an effective bike allowed Decha to break away from challengers. He was seen going faster as each lap passed and crossed the finish line with 29:59.818s- a 7.433s advantage.

While Decha had it easy, things went differently for Chalermpol who finished the race second (30:07.215s). The defending Champion made an early mistake when the race started and to make things worse, he lost time when Toshiyuki Hamaguchi (Moto-Rev India) crashed in front of him.

By then, daredevil rider, Azlan Shah had already caught up and the two fought ferociously- switching positions several times. But as the race proceeded, Azlan lost pace and Chalermpol secured second place (30:07.251s) while Azlan (30:10.024s) came in third.

To finish fourth was Md Zamri Baba (PETRONAS Yamaha Malaysia) and fifth came in Doni Tata pradita from Indonesia (Yamaha INDOPROM) and veteran, Ahmad Fuad Baharudin sixth.

Local rider, Li Zhen Peng (China Zongshen Racing) did not fail his supporters as he concluded Race 1 seventh followed by M.Fadli (PETRONAS Yamaha Indonesia), Ho Chi Fung, Sudarmono and Wang Zhu.

Wildcards Nocholas Julian Winthrope, Joao Contente Fernandes, Sou Sio Hong and rookie, Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah completed the SuperSports 600cc competitors list.

Meanwhile, sole Japanese rider, Hamaguchi failed to complete the 18 lap race following an early crash in lap 1.

RACE 2

Race 2 was quite challenging for Decha as he did not start the race as well as he did earlier today. As a result he found himself in third position before the first turn.

Not willing to settle for anything less, the 29 years old pushed hard and hunted down rivals, Zamri and Azlan who were ahead of him stole the lead in lap 3. From there he went on to pilot the remaining 15 laps, putting an end to the chase with total time 29:53.758s and a 10.421s gap.

While Race 1 witnessed Azlan and Chalermpol fight for second place, this time around it was between Azlan and teammate, Zamri. The two riders were hot on each other heels and was seen switching positions on several occassions.

Unfortunately, their duel ended sour as Zamri crashed in lap 16 at turn 1. With that, Azlan finished the race second (30:04.179s) followed by Chalermpol (30:18.319s).

Doni Tata further improved himself as he secured fourth place and Hamaguchi redeemed his weekend crashes coming in fifth in Race 2.

Li Zhen Peng also climbed up one spot to finish sixth followed by teammate, Ho Chi Fung, Hafizh Syahrin, Dwi Satri (ASH Yamaha Indonesia) and wildcards, Nicholas, Fernandes and Sou Sio Hong.

Besides Zamri, Sudarmono, Fuad, M.Fadli and Wang Zhu also failed to complete the race.