[Team KAGAYAMA] ARRC Rd.5, Haga struggled in Race 2, but finished 11th position.

The round 5 of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) was held in the Buddh International Circuit in India (course total length 5141m) from September 30 (Friday) to October 1 (Sunday).

This is the first time in this circuit, most of the riders didn’t know this course. It is start going up from the 1st corner to 3rd corner, and the back straight is gradually going down and there is a bump in the middle. Furthermore, from the last of 4th corner section, the corner with up and down continuous, especially the 8th-9th corner is a technical corner that has the cone-shape with cant.

Team KAGAYAMA SUZUKI Asia that reached the season of the second year from the start is competing in the Supersport 600 class of t e ARRC with two of the SUZUKI GSX-R600 that are rode by “98” Patis Chooprathet who was step up from the one-make race of small motorcycle “Suzuki Asian Challenge” to be produced by Yukio Kagayama and “41” Noriyuki Haga who is joined this team in second year.

India race 1 was the start from the grid was started from 17th grid (Patis) and 12th grid (Haga), but Patis had a crash and retired immediately after start of the race. This incident pushed back Haga to the back of the grid, but found a good pace, lapping at the same average as the top group. Haga’s paced slowed down a bit towards the end of the race, but managed to finish 10th for the team. But Patis made a decision to sit out Race 2, as he had a mild concussion and bruises out the ribs from the crash in Race 1.

Team KAGAYAMA SUZUKI Asia was attend to this race for only one, in day 2 (Sunday) morning they set up the machine from warm-up session to support Haga. Then At 1:30 pm, it started the race 2, which is contested by 16 laps.

Haga was firmly well in the start, despite in 7th place after he managed to pass 5riders until the back straight, but he went down 10th place. Then he was chasing Yuuki Ito.

Haga was passed Ito once, but during deploring this battle, Hada Taiga who was running the 11th also joined this battle. The battle of getting the 9th position would be changed by three Japanese. However, it was difficult for him to pass other riders on the straights. He managed to finish 11th in Race 2.

The left of 2016 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship is only 1race. Round 6 and the final round of the season will be held at Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand, 3-4 December.

Noriyuki Haga | #41

We tried a different setup in the warm-up session on Sunday morning, but that didn’t work, so we went back to the setting we had on Race 2 with a mild change to it. The feeling was better than the Race 1.

I managed to move up to 7-place at start, but I was battling for 9-place the whole race. I just couldn’t find the speed. I was disappointed that I did not come back at the final lap, but I thought we managed to have a good race. The next race is the final race of the season, so I will be trying my best to finish the season with a good result.

Patis Chooprathet | #98

This time I could not race due to the body pain. But the next local race is in Thailand. I want to do my best with the intend to recover the minutes of the 5 round.

Yukio Kagayama | Team Manager

We had to have Patis sit out because of his pain in the ribs and also he hit his head, and from a mild concussion we had to cancel the Race. The next race would be in his home country (Thailand), so I believe he will show us the best race of the season.

Haga managed to get in the 9-place, and finished in 11-place. The team tried their best to give him the best motorcycle set up but wasn’t able to satisfy the rider.

The final round will become the next step, but I want the team to have a unite backup to be able to advance to a higher level. Everyone cheer thank you.

→ Read the full article(*Japanese)

Original Source [ Team KAGAYAMA ](*Japanese)