barrygrussell
Senior Member
Also published on my 'Under the Helmet' blog
The way the 2012 season is shaping up for Thailand’s motorcycle racers, it will be difficult for their fans to keep pace.
Starting at the top of the international scene, ‘Feem’ Ratthapark Wilairot appears to have put his dreadful 2011 season behind him and looks much happier after his move to Gresini. He matched his teammate, Gino Rea’s times in last week’s Moto2 test at Jerez and must see the forthcoming season as crucial to his racing future. On the downside, concerns about the competitiveness of the Moriwaki chassis were made public by the outspoken Rea after the Jerez test concluded, when he tweeted, “Many things to work on with the new Moriwaki chassis and new suspension manufacturer. Need more time, didn’t fix bikes fundamental problem.” However, Gresini, as one of the biggest names in MotoGP, can be expected to move heaven and earth to get the bike competitive by the time the Losail Circuit in Qatar opens for business for the first round on 5th April.
On a regional level, the Asia Road Racing Championship’s (ARRC) Supersport 600 series, which has provided close racing to a burgeoning fan base over the last few seasons, looks to be coming of age, with a bigger grid and the entry of Ryuichi Kiyonari, the most successful rider ever in the ultra-competitive British Superbike series. Kiyonari looks very much like a strategic recognition by Honda of the ARRC, as he has been placed in Malaysia’s flagship Boon Siew Honda Racing team.
For aspiring Thai racers the series gives the big track experience missing in their home country, featuring Sepang, Zhuhai, Losail, Autopolis, Madras, and Sentul in Indonesia, which has just been confirmed as returning to the World Superbike calendar for five years from 2013. As the ‘Eurocentricity’ of motorsport continues to unravel, ARRC Supersport is well placed to become the region’s main proving ground for MotoGP and World Superbike and Supersport.
The championship consists of six rounds, with two races at each round and enjoys live streaming in Thailand as well as TV coverage throughout most of the rest of the region. The promoter also provides excellent coverage on their YouTube channel, showing full race videos, and is well supported by their Facebook page and website. The first race will be at Sepang on 11-13th May.
Thanks to Petronas Yamaha’s Decha Kraisart and Chalermpol Polamai, Thailand has already claimed three ARRC Supersport championships and for 2012 AP Honda will be fielding factory supported entries for two more of the Kingdom’s finest, with Feem’s younger brother, Ratthapong Wilairot and ‘Tingnote’ Thitipong Warakorn, himself a Petronas Yamaha protégé.
In Thailand’s racing circles, Ratthapong is regarded as being as naturally gifted as Feem, but more aggressive, while Tingnote took Thailand’s national superbike championship for Petronas Yamaha in 2010 before switching to a CBR1000RR for Panadda Racing in 2011.
It is a particularly good move for Tingnote, who was a class above the rest in the Thailand Superbike championship in 2011, although he narrowly missed the title after being hampered by a wrist injury during the early races and then was struck by mechanical failure in the penultimate round. The 23 year-old is ready to be tested on the international stage and the strength of the ARRC Supersport 600 series and the expected competitiveness of the AP Honda machines should enable him to show exactly what he is capable of.
Narrowing the focus to Thailand’s domestic championships, the professional superbike class, a two-horse race in 2011 which was won by 18 year-old ‘Stamp’ Apiwat Wongthananon after Tingnote’s misfortunes, promises to provide a much better spectacle in 2012. The reigning champion, along with teammate ‘TheBell’ Aekkachai Chiengwong will be joined at Elf Smart Honda by 2011 Moto3 Production champion ‘Sup’ Anucha Nakcharoensri, who will need to adapt his sublime light motorcycle racing skills and race-craft to the fire-breathing CBR1000RR. Under the guidance of retiring multiple Thai Superbike champion and team manager ‘Superbird’ Saen Choisak, few doubt that he will quickly be running at the front and testing the young champion’s suspect temperament and I personally expect him to take the title.
With Tingnote on international duty, Elf Smart Honda’s main rival, Panadda Racing, will have rather a different look, led by two foreign additions to the
pro-superbike grid. Englishman Luke Stokes and Canadian Colin Butler cut their road racing teeth when they joined the R2M SuperNaked class in May 2011, immediately dominating it and then moving quickly through Thailand’s Superbike time-based ranking system to reach the professional category by the last race of the 2011 season. High profile team boss and actress, ‘Boom’ Panadda Wongphudee, has snapped up the talented newcomers, along with Pattaya’s promising 18 year-old rookie class racer Benjamin Fortt, who will join the other young Thai racers being developed in Panadda’s growing squad. Stokes and Butler have been setting times in test sessions at Bira International that should put them close to the front of the Superbike field, while Fortt is close behind and looking like he will quickly graduate from the rookie to the pro-class when the season starts on 25th March.
Elsewhere, Michael Kongaubon* (who normally races as Michael Walker in Thailand), winner of the Kawasaki Mini GP 250 Modify championship for Panadda Racing in 2010 and the R2M SuperBike Classic 400 title for Panpund Team in 2011, has yet to announce plans, pending agreement with sponsors, but is expected to contest a high profile European championship in 2012.
More updates will follow as the race action approaches.
*Declaration of interest: I am Michael Kongaubon’s agent and manager.
The way the 2012 season is shaping up for Thailand’s motorcycle racers, it will be difficult for their fans to keep pace.
Starting at the top of the international scene, ‘Feem’ Ratthapark Wilairot appears to have put his dreadful 2011 season behind him and looks much happier after his move to Gresini. He matched his teammate, Gino Rea’s times in last week’s Moto2 test at Jerez and must see the forthcoming season as crucial to his racing future. On the downside, concerns about the competitiveness of the Moriwaki chassis were made public by the outspoken Rea after the Jerez test concluded, when he tweeted, “Many things to work on with the new Moriwaki chassis and new suspension manufacturer. Need more time, didn’t fix bikes fundamental problem.” However, Gresini, as one of the biggest names in MotoGP, can be expected to move heaven and earth to get the bike competitive by the time the Losail Circuit in Qatar opens for business for the first round on 5th April.
On a regional level, the Asia Road Racing Championship’s (ARRC) Supersport 600 series, which has provided close racing to a burgeoning fan base over the last few seasons, looks to be coming of age, with a bigger grid and the entry of Ryuichi Kiyonari, the most successful rider ever in the ultra-competitive British Superbike series. Kiyonari looks very much like a strategic recognition by Honda of the ARRC, as he has been placed in Malaysia’s flagship Boon Siew Honda Racing team.
For aspiring Thai racers the series gives the big track experience missing in their home country, featuring Sepang, Zhuhai, Losail, Autopolis, Madras, and Sentul in Indonesia, which has just been confirmed as returning to the World Superbike calendar for five years from 2013. As the ‘Eurocentricity’ of motorsport continues to unravel, ARRC Supersport is well placed to become the region’s main proving ground for MotoGP and World Superbike and Supersport.
The championship consists of six rounds, with two races at each round and enjoys live streaming in Thailand as well as TV coverage throughout most of the rest of the region. The promoter also provides excellent coverage on their YouTube channel, showing full race videos, and is well supported by their Facebook page and website. The first race will be at Sepang on 11-13th May.
Thanks to Petronas Yamaha’s Decha Kraisart and Chalermpol Polamai, Thailand has already claimed three ARRC Supersport championships and for 2012 AP Honda will be fielding factory supported entries for two more of the Kingdom’s finest, with Feem’s younger brother, Ratthapong Wilairot and ‘Tingnote’ Thitipong Warakorn, himself a Petronas Yamaha protégé.
In Thailand’s racing circles, Ratthapong is regarded as being as naturally gifted as Feem, but more aggressive, while Tingnote took Thailand’s national superbike championship for Petronas Yamaha in 2010 before switching to a CBR1000RR for Panadda Racing in 2011.
It is a particularly good move for Tingnote, who was a class above the rest in the Thailand Superbike championship in 2011, although he narrowly missed the title after being hampered by a wrist injury during the early races and then was struck by mechanical failure in the penultimate round. The 23 year-old is ready to be tested on the international stage and the strength of the ARRC Supersport 600 series and the expected competitiveness of the AP Honda machines should enable him to show exactly what he is capable of.
Narrowing the focus to Thailand’s domestic championships, the professional superbike class, a two-horse race in 2011 which was won by 18 year-old ‘Stamp’ Apiwat Wongthananon after Tingnote’s misfortunes, promises to provide a much better spectacle in 2012. The reigning champion, along with teammate ‘TheBell’ Aekkachai Chiengwong will be joined at Elf Smart Honda by 2011 Moto3 Production champion ‘Sup’ Anucha Nakcharoensri, who will need to adapt his sublime light motorcycle racing skills and race-craft to the fire-breathing CBR1000RR. Under the guidance of retiring multiple Thai Superbike champion and team manager ‘Superbird’ Saen Choisak, few doubt that he will quickly be running at the front and testing the young champion’s suspect temperament and I personally expect him to take the title.
With Tingnote on international duty, Elf Smart Honda’s main rival, Panadda Racing, will have rather a different look, led by two foreign additions to the
pro-superbike grid. Englishman Luke Stokes and Canadian Colin Butler cut their road racing teeth when they joined the R2M SuperNaked class in May 2011, immediately dominating it and then moving quickly through Thailand’s Superbike time-based ranking system to reach the professional category by the last race of the 2011 season. High profile team boss and actress, ‘Boom’ Panadda Wongphudee, has snapped up the talented newcomers, along with Pattaya’s promising 18 year-old rookie class racer Benjamin Fortt, who will join the other young Thai racers being developed in Panadda’s growing squad. Stokes and Butler have been setting times in test sessions at Bira International that should put them close to the front of the Superbike field, while Fortt is close behind and looking like he will quickly graduate from the rookie to the pro-class when the season starts on 25th March.
Elsewhere, Michael Kongaubon* (who normally races as Michael Walker in Thailand), winner of the Kawasaki Mini GP 250 Modify championship for Panadda Racing in 2010 and the R2M SuperBike Classic 400 title for Panpund Team in 2011, has yet to announce plans, pending agreement with sponsors, but is expected to contest a high profile European championship in 2012.
More updates will follow as the race action approaches.
*Declaration of interest: I am Michael Kongaubon’s agent and manager.
