Japanese rider Kaito Toba has won the inaugural Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup after finishing third in the final race of the season at Sepang, whilst his main rival Yuta Date crashed on the first lap.
The last of nine races in the first season of the competition got underway at midday local time at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, with all the focus on those two riders, Toba and Date – separated by just two points in the standings as they lined up on the grid.
The third rider who arrived at Sepang with a title chance, Ayumu Sasaki, crashed in Saturday’s race 8 of the season and broke his wrist, meaning he was unable to race on Sunday.
At the race start, Thai rider Muklada Sarapuech got away brilliantly to lead, despite starting eighth on the grid. But midway through the first lap Sarapuech went to ground just in front of Date, who also fell. Date managed to rejoin the race but his championship chances had slipped away.
A front-running group gradually pulled clear to contest the lead, with Toba, Takuma Kunimine and the winner of Saturday’s race Shafiq Rasol joined by Adam Norrodin towards the end of the race.
Kunimine judged the hot conditions best of all, crossing the finish line first and securing his first win of the year. Rasol was second and Toba’s third place ensured him the championship.
The inaugural 2014 edition of the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup produced an intense and exciting competition between the 22 young participants, as they raced in Qatar, China, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia.
Preparations for the 2015 season gather momentum on Monday with the first of two days of the Selection Event, also at Sepang, where the riders hoping to take part in next year’s competition will show their intentions to turn potential into performance.
More, from another press release issued by Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup:
Selection Event for 2015 Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup takes place at Sepang
On Tuesday in Malaysia the second day of the Selection Event for the 2015 Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup took place.
With the dawn came the hopeful Malaysian riders, taking their first steps on the path to a possible ride in the 2015 competition.
A group of 26 of the brightest local stars, including the younger brother of Moto3™ rider Zulfhami Khairuddin, registered for their chance to take to the Sepang International Karting Track on the specially prepared Honda Underbone machines. With perfectly clear skies above, the youngsters divided into two groups and began their acclimatisation to the track and machines, with a few small crashes in the early laps it was soon clear that the standards were high.
They needed to be fast as at 11am the Malaysian group was whittled down by half as the best riders from day one joined the fray for their second chance to impress the ACT director Alberto Puig.
On day one a group of hopeful riders from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and New Zealand had taken part and the best from that group made it through to the second day. On day two the best Malaysian riders showed their skills in the morning and then further sessions took place with only selected riders participating.
The second Tuesday group was whittled down to a final selection of just 30 from the original group that began the day. Then it was really crunch time, with just two more 10 minute sessions on the track to hone their lines the riders had to give it their all and some gave a bit too much with more spills as bikes and riders hit the deck. But the times kept coming down and the riders kept improving, which in turn meant that the final deliberation would be a fraught affair.
With the final runs of the day done the heavens opened as Puig deliberated long and hard over his decision of which riders to take forward to the next stage of the 2015 Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup.
A nervous silence gripped the crowd of expectant riders as the final word came after almost two hours of talks that nine riders would join the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup in 2015, including the first rider from Australia. Tears of heartache were mingled with tears of joy as the two very intense days of testing came to an end and the journey into 2015 began.
2015 Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup Selection Event Results
October 27-28 at Sepang Circuit, Malaysia
Selected Riders For 2015 Season
Gery Salim, Indonesia, age 17
Andi Farid Izdihar, Indonesia, age 17
McKinley Kyle Paz, Phillipines, age 13
Lachlan Craig Taylor, Australia, age 13
Masaki Kazuki, Japan, age 14
Ai Ogura, Japan, age 13
Ryusei Yamanaka, Japan, age 12
Sittipon Srimoontree, Thailand, age 14
Azroy Hakeem Bin Anuar, Malaysia, age 14
Reserve Riders For 2015 Season
Bangga Dewantara Sunarya, Indonesia, age 16
Pengyuan Chen, China, age 17
James Aldrin Mendez, Phillipines, age 20
Tom Stewart William Edwards, Australia, age 13
Kite Fuse, Japan, age 15
Katsuto Sano, Japan, age 16
Rei Toshima, Japan, age 15
Watch a video of the selection event here: