The final round of the ARRC 2019 season took place at the “sacred land” of Southeast Asian racing, the Sepang circuit in Malaysia on September 21 and 22, evoking mixed emotions for the 3 riders from the Honda Racing Vietnam team. While Cao Viet Nam had an outstanding performance that brought joy to the fans, the duo of Song Thanh left with regrets.
Returning to Sepang, Malaysia after more than 6 months since the first round in March, the Honda Racing Vietnam team had high expectations as this circuit had brought good luck to Vietnamese riders in the past. In the early days of March, rider Cao Viet Nam in the AP250 category finished 12th in Race 1 and 10th in Race 2, earning his first 10 points and ranking 11th overall. In the UB150 category, Khanh Loc and Vu Thanh tried their best but failed to score any points.
Cao Viet Nam receives media attention for the championship.
Before the 6th round, Cao Viet Nam had only scored 5 more points after the 5th round in China. During the 4th round in Suzuka, Japan, the Honda Racing Vietnam rider had missed the main race for 2 days due to an injury during practice. For the duo of Vu Thanh and Duc Thanh, despite their efforts, they did not score any points in China.
The 6th round of the Asia Road Racing Championship 2019 took place under less than ideal conditions. At the time of the 6th round, Malaysia was experiencing heavy air pollution due to the forest fires in Indonesia. The weather was not sunny and was constantly covered in a hazy white color from the smoke, which somewhat affected the racing conditions.
In the qualifying session held in the morning of September 21, Cao Viet Nam started in 19th place with a best lap time of 2:27.960. Therefore, in both main race days, the rider from Honda Racing Vietnam started in the 19th position out of 30 riders. In the UB150 category, Nguyen Duc Thanh started in 31st place out of 35, and Vu Thanh started right after.
Cao Viet Nam started in the 19th position out of 30.
The first main race took place in the afternoon of the same day, with the UB150 category being the first to race, with both Vietnamese riders of the Song Thanh Duo competing. Starting from a low position, their chances of breaking into the top 15 were quite low. As predicted, at the end of 6 laps at the Sepang circuit, Nguyen Duc Thanh finished in 23rd place, while Vu Thanh failed to complete Race 1 as it ended after only 1 lap of racing.
Rider Nguyen Duc Thanh finished in 23rd place.
The attention was now focused on Cao Viet Nam in the AP250 category. Not long ago, at the Honda Thailand Talent Cup 2019, the Vietnamese rider had impressively appeared on the podium twice in a row. This was considered a significant encouragement for the 1996-born rider before entering the 6th round of the ARRC 2019 season.
Not letting fans and the leadership of the Honda Racing Vietnam team down, Cao Viet Nam performed exceptionally well on the first day of the 6th round. Despite starting in the 19th position out of 30, right after the first turn at the Sepang circuit, Cao Viet Nam quickly overtook many other riders to move up to the leading group. At the end of the first lap, Cao Viet Nam was in 15th place.
Continuing to chase the leading group and making efforts to break through, Cao Viet Nam gradually improved his position after each lap. At the end of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th laps, the rider from Honda Racing Vietnam was in 13th place. The climax was pushed to a higher level in the final laps. Cao Viet Nam broke through to secure 10th place after the 5th lap and 9th place after the 6th lap. The 1996-born rider dropped one spot to 10th after the 7th lap but managed to regain 9th place at the finish line.
At this time, all attention was focused on Cao Viet Nam in the AP250 category. In previous rounds, the leading group often left the chasing group with Cao Viet Nam behind, quickly separating after the first 2-3 laps. This time, however, things were different.
At the end of the first day of competition, Cao Viet Nam finished an impressive 9th overall, earning 7 valuable points. This was also his best performance in his professional racing career and was on par with his achievement in Race 1 of Round 3 in Thailand this season. However, it is worth noting that the gap between Nam and the race leader was reduced to only 5.648 seconds, significantly lower than the 13.606 seconds in Thailand in Round 3. This showed the impressive progress of Cao Viet Nam.
Entering the second day of competition at Sepang, Malaysia in the afternoon of the following day, Cao Viet Nam showed strong determination to continue setting new records in his racing career. Starting from 19th position out of 30, the rider from the Honda Racing Vietnam team once again showed a strong breakthrough right after the start. At the end of the crucial first lap, rider number 65 was in 12th place.
However, unlike the first day of competition, the rival riders became more cautious of Cao Viet Nam, as evidenced by the intense battles with the Vietnamese rider in many difficult turns that required high-level skills. After the first 2 laps, Nam dropped to 14th place and then 15th in the next lap.
However, Cao Viet Nam’s determination and courage once again shone through. The rider with the nickname “the crazy guy” made a strong effort in the later laps to steadily climb up the rankings and ultimately finished in 11th place after 8 laps at Sepang. It is worth noting that the gap between Cao Viet Nam and the race winner in Race 2 was even more impressive at only 3.303 seconds. This means that Cao Viet Nam is nearing the achievements of the top riders in the AP250 category on the continent.
Cao Viet Nam finishes in 11th place in Race 2.
After the outstanding performance over the 2 days of competition, Cao Viet Nam added 12 more points to his overall score for the season. Currently, the “crazy guy” has a total of 44 points, ranking 14th overall, level with the Indian rider behind him and only 8 points behind the 13th place rider. In 2018, at the end of the 6-round season around Asia, Cao Viet Nam only scored a total of 12 points and ranked 24th overall.
In contrast to Cao Viet Nam’s impressive results, the duo of Duc Thanh and Vu Thanh continued to have an unsuccessful day in Race 2. Moreover, both of their bikes encountered problems during the race, forcing both riders to retire early without scoring any points. Currently, in the UB150 category, after 6 rounds of the 2019 season, the best performance belongs to Vu Thanh with a 15th place finish in Suzuka, Japan.
Stage 7, the final round of the season, will take place from November 29 to December 1 at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand. This is a circuit that Cao Viet Nam is very familiar with as he regularly trains and competes in the Honda Thailand Talent Cup. This promises to be an explosive round for the rider in excellent form.
Tới Nguyễn (Forum.autodaily.vn)
