barrygrussell
Senior Member
Originally published in Racing News Thailand
A lively day’s racing is expected this coming Sunday for Round 3 of the Motorcycle Mag Road Racing Championships (MMRRC).
The Superbike SB-1 championship has been dominated so far by Elf Smart Honda’s ‘Stamp’ Apiwat Wongthananon, who has won both MMRRC rounds as well as the first two R2M rounds at Thailand Circuit, leaving the his rival pro-racers wondering what they can do to close the gap.
Who will be there when Stamp looks back on Sunday?
The three riders who have consistently been sharing the podium with Stamp, teammate ‘TheBell’ Aekkachai Chiengwong, and Panadda Racing’s international duo of Luke Stokes and Colin Butler have not so far been able to match the 18 year-old’s pace and, critically, the way he has been able to launch to grab an early lead and manage the race to the chequered flag. If one of them does manage to beat him off the line it will be interesting to see how the race unfolds.
After a quiet start to the season, TheBell found his form in R2M Round 2 and took an easy second place ahead of Stokes, with Butler fighting set-up issues to finish fourth. TheBell also gets off the line quickly, so Panadda’s riders know they have to work on making fast starts.
View attachment 8958Flying Canadian Colin Butler will be looking to put set-up problems behind him and get back to the front of the field
Saksit Senakhan, who was able to push Stamp early in the 2011 season, returns to Bira after breaking his collarbone in a testing crash there before the second round. Riding a Kawasaki this year, 18 year-old Saksit has not been able to match the best times he was achieving on the CBR 1000RR he rode last season, so his Sunsoil team will be looking for a good set-up this time out.
Behind the SB-1 racers, Bira always provides a packed SB-2 contingent to swell the grid to more than 20 superbikes, plus one or two 600cc machines. Another 18 year-old, Panadda Racing’s Benjamin Fortt, is expected to be one of the top qualifiers in the second rank. Fortt has won both R2M rounds this season, but has not turned his pace at Bira into results so far. In testing this week he has been continuing to bring his lap times down and is clearly capable of pushing through the SB-1 threshold of 1’06. Fortt will be challenged by Round 2 winner ‘Kob’ and a pack of closely matched riders which includes Watchara Linma, Gaven Purisima and Natt Prasananon.
Ben Fortt's mission is to convert impressive testing times into results at his home track
The supporting races will include the Superbike Novice SB-3 class, Moto3 Production, in which Stamp, who finished third in the last round, will face fierce competition and the ever-entertaining underbone classes, where Thailand’s next generation of pro-racers are being incubated.
Practice begins at 8:00am on Sunday, with the last race scheduled to start at 5:45pm.
A lively day’s racing is expected this coming Sunday for Round 3 of the Motorcycle Mag Road Racing Championships (MMRRC).
The Superbike SB-1 championship has been dominated so far by Elf Smart Honda’s ‘Stamp’ Apiwat Wongthananon, who has won both MMRRC rounds as well as the first two R2M rounds at Thailand Circuit, leaving the his rival pro-racers wondering what they can do to close the gap.
Who will be there when Stamp looks back on Sunday?The three riders who have consistently been sharing the podium with Stamp, teammate ‘TheBell’ Aekkachai Chiengwong, and Panadda Racing’s international duo of Luke Stokes and Colin Butler have not so far been able to match the 18 year-old’s pace and, critically, the way he has been able to launch to grab an early lead and manage the race to the chequered flag. If one of them does manage to beat him off the line it will be interesting to see how the race unfolds.
After a quiet start to the season, TheBell found his form in R2M Round 2 and took an easy second place ahead of Stokes, with Butler fighting set-up issues to finish fourth. TheBell also gets off the line quickly, so Panadda’s riders know they have to work on making fast starts.
View attachment 8958Flying Canadian Colin Butler will be looking to put set-up problems behind him and get back to the front of the field
Saksit Senakhan, who was able to push Stamp early in the 2011 season, returns to Bira after breaking his collarbone in a testing crash there before the second round. Riding a Kawasaki this year, 18 year-old Saksit has not been able to match the best times he was achieving on the CBR 1000RR he rode last season, so his Sunsoil team will be looking for a good set-up this time out.
Behind the SB-1 racers, Bira always provides a packed SB-2 contingent to swell the grid to more than 20 superbikes, plus one or two 600cc machines. Another 18 year-old, Panadda Racing’s Benjamin Fortt, is expected to be one of the top qualifiers in the second rank. Fortt has won both R2M rounds this season, but has not turned his pace at Bira into results so far. In testing this week he has been continuing to bring his lap times down and is clearly capable of pushing through the SB-1 threshold of 1’06. Fortt will be challenged by Round 2 winner ‘Kob’ and a pack of closely matched riders which includes Watchara Linma, Gaven Purisima and Natt Prasananon.
Ben Fortt's mission is to convert impressive testing times into results at his home trackThe supporting races will include the Superbike Novice SB-3 class, Moto3 Production, in which Stamp, who finished third in the last round, will face fierce competition and the ever-entertaining underbone classes, where Thailand’s next generation of pro-racers are being incubated.
Practice begins at 8:00am on Sunday, with the last race scheduled to start at 5:45pm.
