At the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, all the focus on two riders, Toba and Date in the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup as both are 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.
Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup Race 2 Results
1 21 Takuma KUNIMINE JPN Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’27.430
2 3 Shafiq RASOL MAL Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’27.811 141.9
3 16 Kaito TOBA JPN Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’27.850 141.9
4 18 Somkiat CHANTRA THA Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’29.926 141.7
5 10 Adam NORRODIN MAL Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’27.856 141.7
6 7 Fakhrusy ROSTAM MAL Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’31.811 141.6
7 11 Helmi AZMAN MAL Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’32.256 141.5
8 5 Shafiq EZZARIQ MAL Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’37.718 141.1
9 13 Nakarin ATIRATPHUVAP THA Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’37.821 141.1
10 15 Ryo MIZUNO JPN Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup HONDA 30’38.937 141.0
STANDING AFTER NINE RACES
| Rider | Nation | Points | |
| 1 | TOBA Kaito | JPN | 155 |
| 2 | DATE Yuta | JPN | 137 |
| 3 | KUNIMINE Takuma | JPN | 119 |
| 4 | SASAKI Ayumu | JPN | 111 |
| 5 | RASOL Shafiq | MAL | 102 |
| 6 | MIZUNO Ryo | JPN | 81 |
| 7 | NORRODIN Adam | MAL | 75 |
| 8 | ATIRATPHUVAPAT Naka | THA | 61 |
| 9 | KITAMI Tsurugi | JPN | 59 |
| 10 | SEKINO Kaito | JPN | 52 |
| 11 | CHANTRA Somkiat | THA | 50 |
| 12 | ROSTAM Fakhrusy | MAL | 48 |
| 13 | AZMAN Helmi | MAL | 41 |
| 14 | EZZARIQ Shafiq | MAL | 58 |
| 15 | SARAPUECH Muklada | THA | 32 |
| 16 | HAMMAR Wilman | INA | 29 |
| 17 | CHEN Yuanhang | CHN | 22 |
| 18 | NORRODIN Ibrahim | MAL | 18 |
| 19 | BAHAUDDIN Nazirul | MAL | 12 |
| 20 | TORRES Ralph | PHI | 7 |
| 21 | IZDIHAR Andi | INA | 6 |
| 22 | NOOR Azhar | SIN | 5 |
| 23 | YOSHIDA Tsubasa | JPN | 4 |
