NAKARIN CLAIMS THRILLING VICTORY

Round 3 MAM Malaysia Superbike Championship took place today at the PETRONAS Sepang International Circuit today saw Nakarin Atiratphuvaphat from Honda Racing Thailand emerged victorious after a fierce battle Race 1 of the MSBK1000 A category.
The race began with Nakarin in the lead, followed closely by Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman of HORIZON RACING TEAM in P2. However, the excitement was abruptly halted when Fahmi Abdul Wahaf of FGRT PROJECT fell, causing a fire on his bike. The red flag was raised moments later due to oil spilled on the track.
This turn of events worked in favor of Zaqhwan Zaidi, whose team was able to fix his bike during the red flag period. He was permitted to restart the race, albeit from the back of the grid.
Once the race restarted with 8 laps to go, Nakarin quickly claimed his lead, with Azlan in P2, Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin of YAMAHA TEKHNE RACING TEAM ASIA in P3, and Zaqhwan rapidly advancing to P5. Azlan made his move, overtaking Nakarin to take the lead, but Nakarin responded, reclaiming P1 shortly after.
As the race progressed, lap 5 saw Azlan set the fastest lap time of 2’07:216s, leading the pack with Kasma hot on his heels. By lap 6, Kasma overtook Nakarin and began to chase down Azlan. The tension peaked on lap 7 as the top three riders battled fiercely for the win. However, a small mistake by Kasma at Turn 4 hindered his chances.
In a nail-biting finish, Nakarin overtook Azlan in the final turn, pushing hard toward the finish line to clinch the win by a mere 0.015 seconds at 17’07:780s.
Nakarin said, “Azlan was incredibly strong today, and Kasma also showed impressive pace, staying right with the group. This race was truly challenging, especially with the track conditions being a bit wet due to the rain. In the last two laps, my brakes started to overheat, so I had to make some adjustments to manage that and allow them to cool down before giving my final push. Thankfully, I was able to make it work. Tomorrow, I’ll aim to build on this momentum and push even harder.”
TOP 5 FASTEST – RACE 1
MSBK1000 A
1. Nakarin Atiratphuvaphat – HONDA RACING THAILAND (17’07:780s)
2. Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman – HORIZON RACING TEAM (17’07:795s)
3. Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin – YAMAHA TEKHNE RACING TEAM ASIA (17’08:669s)
4. Zaqhwan Zaidi – BOON SIEW HONDA RA CING TEAM (17’12:942s)
5. Md Ibrahim Md Norrodin – FGRT PROJECT (17’16:696s)