The Cremona Circuit in Italy has hosted the fourth WorldSSP championship round, which brought varying results for the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team. 

Japanese rider Kaito Toba and Malaysian rookie Syarifuddin Azman were both left hungry for more after a challenging race 1, which saw Toba crash in the early stages and Azman finish twenty-sixth. The pair used Sunday’s warmup to make a few adjustments to their CBR600RR machines ahead of Race 2.

The second 20-lap race got underway at 3.15pm, in dry albeit cloudy conditions and in lower temperatures with respect to Saturday’s race 1. Toba did not make the strongest start from eighteenth, slipping to twenty-first through the first turns. Part of a large group of riders lapping with very similar times, Kaito had difficulty making much of an impression in the early stages. Gaining three positions during the first half of the race, the Japanese rider was holding firm in eighteenth until three laps from the end. Late crashes for some of his rivals helped Toba to progress as far as the points zone, the rider scoring one championship point thanks to a fifteenth-place finish. Teammate Azman was able to make up two positions in the early stages but lap 7 unfortunately brought a crash for the Malaysian, at turn 2. Unable to rejoin the race, Syarifuddin returned to the pits.

With round four now complete, Toba lies twentieth in the general standings, with 10 points. The next round will see the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team travel to the Czech Republic, and the Autodrom Most, with the action is set to get underway on Friday 16 May.

Kaito Toba #27

“In today’s warm up we recovered the feeling I had with the bike already yesterday, by making a couple of minor adjustments to the front. In the race, I was cautious at the beginning and focused on defending my position. Then, once things settled down, I did my best to pick up the pace. The main challenge was getting past the other riders, since there aren’t many places to overtake, and they were pulling away along the straights. In the end we finished in the points zone, which is decent enough. But we certainly want more and will keep working to close the gap to achieve better results.”

Syarifuddin Azman #63

“Firstly, a big thank you to the team for all their hard work this weekend. I’m happy with the progress we’ve made with the bike over the course of the weekend, but in today’s race I struggled with the front tyre and setup. I’m not happy with the race, which ended in a crash, but I’m looking forward to the next round and will keep working and improving in preparation for the races at Autodrom Most.”