Ryan Larkin made great progress at the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia Pacific Cup

Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia Pacific Championship
Second round report

The Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia Pacific Championship took place at the Thailand International Circuit earlier this month and 15-year-old Chayakorn Saeong proved himself untouchable. The Thai racer won both victories despite three red flags and only gained half a point in the final race.

If anything, temperatures were even hotter than a month earlier in Buriram, with air temperatures reaching 43 degrees, leaving the track surface falling into the sixties. Such harsh conditions at a circuit that was new to everyone but gave the Thai riders an early advantage.

Even as the gap closed during practice and qualifying, double first-round winner Kakeru Okunuki was the only tourist who could match the pace of the fastest Thai.

The 16-year-old from Fukushima positioned himself on the outside of the front row, just a few tenths off the pole-setting time of 1:29.412 recorded by Chayakorn and Tanakit Pratumtong, who was second fastest. Theppitak Kraiyafai leads row two from Supakarn Phasuraphonkul and Anak Waichalard.

Aussie Ryan Larkin is still recovering from bruises and fatigue from his crash in Queensland just a week earlier. The 17-year-old Victorian was only able to complete half the practice and qualifying sessions but still had enough speed to qualify eighth.

Race one

As the race began, Chayakorn converted pole position into a hole-in-one. He took the lead from turn one and set a fast pace immediately that only Kakeru, Theppitak and Supakarn were initially able to match, although they soon began to lose ground.

By round seven, Theppitak had advanced, closely following the second-placed Japanese racer. With just three laps to go, and just when it looked like he was about to overhaul Kakeru, two slower riders crashed in the final turn and brought out the red flag.

With 75% of the distance completed, the results were announced, confirming Chayakorn as the winner by 3.3 seconds ahead of Kakeru and Theppitak. Supakarn, four seconds later, was the lone fourth.

Anak Waichalard and Ryan Larkin finished fifth and sixth respectively.

Young Kiwi Haydn Fordyce finished 13th.

Race Results One

Second race

Chayakorn performed another perfect launch in harsh conditions while being chased by Tanakit and Kakeru. Also off to a good start were Supakorn and Larkin in the second and third rows respectively.

Kakeru passed Tanakit on the second lap and started behind Chayakorn, recording two consecutive fastest laps as he did so. However, just as attention was focused on the battle at the front, an incident raised red flags.

On the restart, scheduled for eight laps, Tanakit passed Chayakorn into turn one, but ran wide to hand the lead straight to the race winner. Meanwhile, Kakeru lifted the lead from outside the front row and was dropped to fifth place.

Seeing Chayakorn escape again, Kakeru made a spectacular double over Theppitak and Supakorn in the fourth turn on the third lap and immediately moved behind Tanakit in second place. In lap four, the Japanese rider was close to his rival in turn three, but stayed low and caught Tanakit’s machine as he fell, allowing the Thai rider to come out on top.

That brought out the second red flag, and Race Control called it a result, with half the championship points awarded. Chayakorn was declared the winner, while Theppitak and Supakarn were elevated to second and third place.

Meanwhile, Ryan Larkin picked up useful points in fourth place, moving closer to the podium.

Behind the Australian, New Zealand’s Haydn Fordyce had a much better race and finished fifth ahead of Moses Gerard Reyes, who won a close sixth place ahead of Pasavee Detratksa, Zain Kaizzer Doblada and Chonlasit Rakbumrung .

Race two results

The championship is heating up

After two rounds, Kakeru leads the rankings with 57 points, 10 points ahead of Chayakorn, who is only half a point ahead of Aussie Ryan Larkin, who has a total of 46.5 points. Theppitak is fourth on 44.5, so an exciting battle is underway at the top of the table.

Haydn Fordyce of New Zealand is seventh with 29.5 points.

Ryan Larkin

“The second round of the Yamaha Blu Cru Asia Pacific R3 Cup was one of the toughest weekends of racing to date; A relentless race in the 40-degree Thai heat turned into an energetic and grueling battle to qualify eighth and finish the opening race in sixth and second in fourth place. My positive thoughts for all injured teammates and Kakeru, who broke his pelvis several times in the second race: you will recover as quickly as you rode. As one of the cleanest riders I enjoy competing with, I look forward to seeing us laugh again. Get some rest, my friend. We will see you again very soon.

The Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia Pacific Championship returns to Chang International Circuit on the weekend of July 4-6 for Round 3.

The next rounds will be held in August (Sugo) and September (Chang) before the tour concludes in Australia, along with the Australian Superbike Championship finals in early November.

This tournament is for riders 12 years and older and provides a stepping stone towards the world championship race. The six-round Asia-Pacific title winner will receive full support to race in next year’s Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup, which runs alongside the World Superbike Championship. Following that, the World Cup champion will receive Yamaha’s support to race in the FIM World Supersport 300 Championship.

Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia Pacific ranking