The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team can be pleased with the progress made so far during round seven of the WorldSSP championship taking place this weekend at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal. After qualifying sixteenth and twenty-third during Friday’s Superpole, riders Kaito Toba and Khairul Idham Pawi were on track on Saturday morning for a brief warm-up ahead of the day’s race. The team used the ten-minute session to make some final adjustments to the CBR600RR bikes, to ensure Kaito and Khairul would be as prepared as possible for the 17-lap manche. 

In very hot and sunny conditions, the lights went out on race 1 at 4.30pm. Toba was quickly up into fifteenth, with team-mate Pawi also making up ground over the first lap to place twentieth. Kaito gained two positions over the first half of the race, the rider determined to score points in this first race of the weekend. Working hard from start to finish to maintain his place within the top fifteen, the Japanese rider eventually crossed the line P14, earning two more important championship points in the process. From around lap four, team-mate Pawi began to struggle to maintain his pace. Battling on, the Malaysian became aware that he had a technical problem and ultimately returned to the garage on lap eleven, putting  a premature end to his race.