A unfortunate end to the Czech WorldSSP weekend at Most
A challenging Czech SSP round comes to a disappointing end for the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team at Autodrom Most after Toba reaches the points zone in Race 2 only to be denied a final result and Pawi is forced to retire
The riders were out for a brief warm-up early morning, in which they took time to make some final checks with their technicians ahead of the afternoon’s race.
The second and final of the weekend’s races ran at 3.15pm local time in hot and sunny conditions. Twenty-first on the grid, Toba completed an impressive lap one, making up eight positions to place thirteenth. Getting into a strong rhythm, the Japanese rider held fourteenth for the first few laps, exchanging positions with Power and looking competitive aboard his CBR600RR. Unfortunately, Kaito was denied what could well have been a top fifteen finish when a technical problem on lap seven ruled him out of the race prematurely.
Pawi got away from twenty-fourth but lost precious ground in traffic through the first couple of laps. Struggling with a technical issue right from the outset, the Malaysian was unable to stick with the pack, soon losing contact with those ahead. On lap eleven he took the decision to return to the pits, unable to conclude this final race.
The seventh WorldSSP round will see the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team in action at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal over the weekend of 9-11 August.
Kaito Toba WorldSSP Rider #27
"“Today was the hottest day of the weekend and we made some adjustments to improve my feeling with the bike in these conditions. In the race, I had a great first lap; my start was solid, and I managed to avoid the tumbles in the first few corners. I was fighting for the points, riding as smoothly as possible in these conditions. But then all of a sudden, the bike stopped working through turn 15 and there was not much I could do. It’s a shame because we could have fought for a decent result this time around. We’ll check with the team what happened and work for the next round.”"
Khairul Idham Pawi WorldSSP Rider #89
"“In race 2, I started to have a strange feeling with the bike almost as soon as I left pitlane. I started the race but lap by lap I felt the performance drop and so I eventually decided to pit mid-race as it was too difficult to ride. A real pity because I wanted to try and improve our pace in race 2, but we’ll try to make up for today at the next round. A big thanks to everyone for their hard work.”"
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