In a race interrupted by two red flags, an unfazed Chayakorn Saeong made it two wins from two starts at Thailand International Circuit. The only thing that prevented it from being a perfect weekend for the 15-year-old was that the shortened race only counted for half points. Chayakorn repeated his getaway from pole at the first start, chased by Tanakit Kraiyafai and Kakeru Okunuki. Also starting well were Supakorn Phasuraponkul and Ryan Larkin from the second and third rows respectively. Kakeru passed Tanakit on lap 2 and set off after Chayakorn, setting two successive fastest laps as he did so. Just as attention focused on the battle at the front, an incident off-camera brought out the red flags.
At the restart, scheduled for eight laps, Tanakit edged out Chayakorn into turn 1, but ran wide to handthe lead to the race 1 winner. Kakeru did an awkward wheelie from the outside of the front row and got shuffled back to fifth. Seeing Chayakorn escaping, Kakeru pulled off a spectacular double overtake on Theppitak and Supakorn at turn 4 and immediately set his sights on Tanakit in second. On lap 4 the Japanese rider got alongside his rival at turn three, but low-sided and caught Tanakit’s machine as he fell, sending the Thai over the high side. That brought out the red flag for the second time, and after careful deliberation, Race Control called it a race with half championship points to be awarded. Chayakorn was declared the winner, while Theppitak and Supakarn were elevated to second and third. Meanwhile, Ryan Larkin picked up useful points for fourth. Behind the Australian, Haydn Fordyce was fifth from Moses Gerard Reyes, who won a close fight for sixth from Pasavee Detratksa, Zain Kaizzer
Doblada and Chonlasit Rakbumrung. After two rounds, Kakeru leads the standings with 57 points, 10 clear of Chayakorn, who is just half-a point ahead of Larkin whose tally stands at 46.5. Theppitak is fourth on 44.5, so an intriguing battle is emerging at the top.
The Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia Pacific Championship returns to Chang International Circuit for the weekend of 4-6 July for Round 3.
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