NAZIRUL STOLE THE SHOW
Round 4 of the MAM Malaysia Superbike Championship 2026 delivered an unforgettable Race 1 in the MSBK250 A category today at the PETRONAS Sepang International Circuit. Nazirul Izzat Muhd Bahauddin from Malaysia emerged victorious after an intense final-lap battle, delaying Irfan Ardiansyah’s championship celebration.
The drama began before the lights even went out. Qualifying had set a highly competitive grid, with Ahmad Afif Amran of RAPIDO YAMAHA FIVEZERO RACING TEAM taking pole position with a time of 2’24.769s. Muhd Irfan Haykhal Amidi of HRM MOTUL RACING TEAM secured second, while championship leader Irfan Ardiansyah of NWN CZ1 SCK RACING TEAM lined up third.
As the race started, Afif launched perfectly to take the immediate lead. However, disaster struck at the very first turn. A crash collected Afif, Haykhal, and Savion Sabu of RACR CASTROL POWER1, shaking up the running order. Through the chaos, Irfan Ardiansyah emerged as the race leader, closely followed by Nazirul in second and Nguyen Huu Tri of HONDA RACING VIETNAM in third.
By Lap 3, the battle for the front tightened significantly. Nazirul shadowed Irfan, sitting just 0.027s behind him. Meanwhile, Huu Tri found his rhythm, setting the fastest lap of the race at 2’26.814s to overtake Muhd Akif Abdullah of HRM MOTUL RACING TEAM for third.
Lap 4 saw a spectacular surge from Huu Tri. He set another blistering lap of 2’26.311s, sweeping past both Nazirul and Irfan to briefly claim the lead. The leading trio was separated by less than a tenth of a second, with Muhd Haziq Muhd Fairues of SAVITAR ASIA TEAM and Akif trailing closely behind.
The top positions changed constantly over the next few laps. On Lap 5, Nazirul made a move on Huu Tri but was quickly overtaken by Irfan. By Lap 7, Akif briefly took the lead, but Nazirul fought back aggressively at Turn 1 to reclaim the front position.
The final lap was an absolute thriller. Nazirul led the pack, but Irfan was desperate to secure the win and clinch the overall championship early. Irfan carved his way up to second, sitting just 0.019s behind Nazirul. Entering the final corner, Nazirul ran slightly wide, opening the door for Irfan to dive up the inside. However, on the final straight, Nazirul found incredible drive, pinning the throttle to out-drag Irfan to the finish line. Nazirul claimed a sensational victory at 19’49.718s, forcing Irfan to settle for second at 19’49.807s. Akif secured a hard-fought third place at 19’49.922s.
Nazirul expressed, “Alhamdulillah! Honestly, I never expected to walk away with the victory today because the battle out on the track was unbelievably fierce. The guys fighting in the top five are all seasoned experts who consistently dominate and race in this category. I have been away from this specific class for quite a long time; my last race here was way back in 2019. So, to suddenly return and step back onto the top step of the podium in P1 brings me a feeling of pure, overwhelming joy and profound gratitude.”
“It has been a difficult journey to get here. From Round 1 through Round 3, we were constantly struggling just to find the right setup. We don’t have the luxury of private training or testing days. The only time our team actually comes together to work on the bike is during the MSBK race weekends. We use those early sessions to frantically search for a baseline, and from there, we honestly just have to take a massive gamble when the lights go out for the race. We simply put our heads down and do the absolute best we can with what we have.”
“To finally taste the sweetness of this victory after all that hard work is an incredibly emotional reward. We will keep fighting with everything we have to maintain this momentum and replicate this winning result in the upcoming race.”
TOP 5 FASTEST – RACE 1
1. NAZIRUL IZZAT MUHD BAHAUDDIN – MALAYSIA (19’49.718s)
2. IRFAN ARDIANSYAH – NWN CZ1 SCK RACING TEAM (19’49.807s)
3. MUHD AKIF ABDULLAH – HRM MOTUL RACING TEAM (19’49.922s)
4. MUHD HAZIQ MUHD FAIRUES – SAVITAR ASIA TEAM (19’49.960s)
5. NGUYEN HUU TRI – HONDA RACING VIETNAM (19’50.062s)