Japanese rider Toshiyuki Hamaguchi became the first rider in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship to win 3 consecutive Supersports 600cc titles as he ended a tumultuous 2004 season with a double victory at the final round of the championship being held in Zhuhai, China.

Hamaguchi started Race 1 from pole position alongside Cameron Donald, Takuma Yamamoto and Makoto Inagaki. Cameron Donald’s rocket start gave him an early lead into Turn 1 with Hamaguchi hot on his heels. The two rivals engaged in a 4-lap battle before Hamaguchi managed to break away from Cameron Donald. The Japanese rider continued to carve a formidable lead at the front of the pack, eventually winning the 16-lap race with a time of 27:12.309. Cameron Donald was 9.463 seconds behind in 2nd place with 27:21.772. In 3rd place, Malaysian rider Ahmad Fuad Baharuddin pipped newcomer Takuma Yamamoto to score his first SuperSports 600cc podium with a time of 27:27.571.

In Race 2, after only a brief tussle in the first half of the opening leg, Hamaguchi took his opportunity to speed away while Cameron Donald found his way blocked by an unsually aggressive Ahmad Fuad Baharuddin. The highlight in Race 2 was the 5-way tussle between Ahmad Fuad Baharuddin, Cameron Donald, Yukihiro Aoyanagi, Masayuki Yamanaka, and Takuma Yamamoto while Hamaguchi sped away to clinch his double victory with a time of 27:08.062 Cameron Donald again had to be content with 2nd placing with 27:23.920. An exciting last-lap battle between Yukihiro Aoyanagi of team Suzuki Enduro 4T Greencycle and Takuma Yamamoto of China Yuan XG Jao ended when Yamamoto broke out of the slipstream and beat Aoyanagi to the finish line to take 3rd place with 27:24.079.

Hamaguchi’s double victory in Zhuhai confirmed his position as the FIM Asian SuperSports 600cc Champion for the 3rd consecutive time with a total of 181.5 points.

Australian rider Cameron Donald who was 2nd in both Race 1 and Race 2, also concluded the season in 2nd overall position with 126.5 points. “I was in a better position to challenge Hamaguchi in Race 1. In Race 2, I was caught within the 2nd pack and it took almost 10 laps before I could get away. By then, Hamaguchi was too far ahead,” he said.

The best Malaysian performance came from Ahmad Fuad Baharuddin who finished 3rd in Race 1 and 6th in Race 2. His team mate Abdul Rahim Sidek finished 10th in Race 1 and 7th in Race 2. PETRONAS Sprinta Racing riders fared badly this round. Mohd Suhadi Ali Rahmat finished 6th in Race 1, but both riders were forced to retire from Race 2 when both their engines seized.

“My target when I arrived in Zhuhai was to finish on the podium and I am pleased that I have achieved my objectives,” said Fuad who has shown consistent improvement from Round1 up to Round 5. He finished 8th and 6th in Round 1; 8th in both races in Round 2; 5th and 4th in Round 3; and 6th again in Round 4.

“This is my first year using a fuel-injection bike and it took me some time to adjust to the different type of handling. At the same time, I was handicapped by the fact that I don’t have the chance to race the SuperSports 600cc class in Malaysia. Of late, I have been able to compete in the Malaysian national championship of the same class, and that exposure has improved my game tremendously,” he explained.

The SuperSports 600cc class became the premier class of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship in the 2000 season where Malaysian rider Chia Tuck Cheong was the first rider to lift the trophy. Chia kept that title for the 2nd consecutive year in 2001 but lost out when Hamaguchi came on the scene in 2002 astride his Suzuki GSXR600. A switch to Honda in 2003 did not affect the Japanese rider’s performance when he won his 2nd consecutive title. This season, Hamaguchi stays astride his Honda CBR600 and will be taking home the championship’s SuperSports 600cc challenge trophy.

Report by Two Wheels Motor Racing (TWMR)