Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/798489
IN THE WIND P36 CHANG SUPERSPORT RACE ANOTHER THRILLER T wo World Supersport races into the season and we have another first-time winner, another load of technical fails and crashes, and this time around exclusions and penalties cropping up all over, all taking place at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand, March 11-12. The race was finally won, in a last-lap spurt away from two chasing riders (one of whom would be excluded), by Federico Caricasulo and his new Yamaha YZF-R6 (GRT). Impressive, as he was only seventh in qualifying. "All weekend, after the experience of not finish- ing in Australia, I did work to make sure I would be able to make good lap times all race long, and in all conditions," said Caricasulo. First wins all around then, but it could have been a wildcard winner, as Decha Kraisart (Yamaha Thai- land) was fully in contention at home. He had to wrestle with the aggressive Kyle Smith (Gemar Balloons Lorini Honda), but he would be penalized for passing too hard on the inside of Christian Gamarino's Bardahl Even Bros Racing Honda, being judged to have made him change his line and fall. He did not see the drop three-place penalty notice, or the ride-through penalty, and then ignored a black flag to finish, only to be sent off the final results by Race Direction. Gino Rea (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) was another who was disqualified for ignoring signals. In losing his podium place, Smith saw Kraisart go second, to the delight of the 39,000 claimed race day fans, and Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing Yamaha) third. Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official World SSP Team), Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) and PJ Jacobsen (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) all went out with varying degrees of technical prob- lems. "Today wasn't so good for the team and myself, but I am sure we can win races and we can be on the top positions soon, as we showed in Phillip Island," Jacobsen said. "We will move on to Aragon and we hopefully can be back winning races and fighting for the championship." In the championship itself, 11th place in Chang for Phillip Island race winner Roberto Rolfo (Team Fac- tory Vamag MV Agusta) leaves him on top with 30 points, Tuuli has 27, Caricasulo 25 and Ryde 24. Gordon Ritchie PJ Jacobsen had another frustrating race in Thailand. In a nail biter, Federico Caricasulo (64) took his, and the new Yamaha YZF-R6's, first WorldSSP victory.