The pace of Sakchai Kongduangdee proved to be too much for the rest of the field in Race 1 of Round 5 of the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia Pacific Championship at Chang International Circuit. The 16-year-old Thai rider, who had already topped free practice and qualifying, stretched away from an 8-bike battle for the lead in the second half of the 10-lap race to build his winning margin to 3.3 seconds at the end. The series, which has been drawing increasing attention from throughout the APAC region, arrived in Buriram with an entry list boosted by four wildcards. They were Thai-Australian Varis Fleming, Jorhans Richard Joshua, who was entered by Yamaha Racing Indonesia, Farres Putra Bin Mohamed Fadhill, who received similar backing from Yamaha in Malaysia and Vietnamese-French rider, Maxence Sicot.
The wildcards looked set to make a difference. With Tanakit Pratumtong and Haydn Fordyce joining Sakchai on the front row, Farres Putra and Varis Fleming were on row 2, split by Ryan Larkin. Meanwhile Jorhans qualified on row 3, together with championship leader Kakeru Okunuki and Huanni Ke. Sure enough, the three newcomers got away from the start cleanly and joined a group of 8 contesting the lead. For the first five laps, nobody seemed able to get away. The pattern of the race changed at the end of lap 6, when Fordyce, a race winner last time out at Chang International, tucked the front of his R3 under braking for turn 12. Tanakit ran wide to avoid the tumbling New Zealander, which put him some distance behind the main battle. Sakchai exploited the disorder to edge clear from the increasingly fierce fight behind. Lapping consistently in the low 1:59s, and showing no signs of the arm and ankle injuries
he sustained in Round 4 at Sugo, the pace and poise of the 15-year-old Thai was impressive. That left the cameras focused on the skirmish for second between Larkin, Jorhans, Fleming, Farres Putra, Kakeru and Tanakit, who had caught up after the lap 5 incident. Ryan Larkin, Farres Putra, Fleming and Tanakit seemed the most likely podium contenders at this point. The 17-year-old Japanese rider looked slightly out of sorts, judged by his own steely standards.
With Sakchai around 2 seconds clear at the front, the pattern behind him shifted again during lap 8 on the fast run down to turn 4. As the group of 5 came over the crest, Farres Putra appeared to make just enough contact with another rider to lose control of his R3. The 16-year-old Malaysian elected to dismount at around 180kph rather than risk being hurled over the high side, which left his riderless machine running loose and into the path of Fleming, who had to run deep to stay out of trouble. The now 4-way fight for the last two spots on the box remained impossibly close. Tanakit started the last lap in front and stayed there as they got into the technical sector 2. Inevitably at this circuit, the result came down to the final corner, and it was Jorhans who made it count to take second by half a wheel from Larkin. Tanakit and Kakeru flashed through almost together in fourth and fifth, 5.3 seconds clear of a thwarted Fleming. Four seconds further back, Natthakorn Kammayee was 7 th , in front of Theppitak Kraiyafai, Kerkrit Chansuta and Huanni Ke, who completed the top 10. Despite a quiet day at the office, Kakeru Okunuki is still in charge of the standings with 129 points. Tanakit Pratumtong and Ryan Larkin stay steady in second and third, though the gap between the first three has shrunk from 33.5 points to 29.5. With three races left and three wildcards capable of taking big points away from the regulars in Race 2, the 2024 Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia Pacific Championship remains wide open.
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