Yuta Date made history by becoming the first ever race winner in the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup on Sunday. The 14 year old converted pole position into victory after a close fight with several riders as the new series for young Asian talent got off to a thrilling start.
Leading onto the long pit straight was often a disadvantage as the strong head wind wreaked havoc, often playing into the hands of following riders who had the benefit of a slipstream. Date especially took advantage of the tow to draft past several riders as they jockeyed for position but an incident behind eventually decided the race in his favour.
At the beginning of the final lap, Ibrahim Norrodin attempted a move in his search for a podium spot but the Malaysian couldn’t control his Honda Moto3 machine and crashed out, taking Thailand’s Muklada Sarapuech out with him. That incident fragmented the leading group just enough for Date to take an unchallenged win with Tsurugi Kitami and Ayumu Sasaki completing an all-Japanese podium.
Sasaki narrowly beat Nakarin Atiratphuvapat to the last rostrum position with Takuma Kunimine and Somkiat Chantra completing the top six. The series will be run over eight races this year with the next round taking place at Sentul, Indonesia on May 11th.
| 2014 SHELL ADVANCE ASIA TALENT CUP | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POS | RIDER |  |
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 |
|
 |
 |
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|
PTS |
| 1 | Y.DATE |
25 | 25 | |||||||
| 2 | T.KITAMI |
20 | 20 | |||||||
| 3 | A.SASAKI |
16 | 16 | |||||||
| 4 |  N.ATIRATPHUVAPAT |
13 | 13 | |||||||
| 5 | T.KUNIMINE |
11 | 11 | |||||||
| 6 | S.CHANTRA |
10 | 10 | |||||||
| 7 | A.NORRODIN |
9 | 9 | |||||||
| 8 | R.MIZUNO |
8 | 8 | |||||||
| 9 | K.SEKINO |
7 | 7 | |||||||
| 10 | W.HAMMAR |
6 | 6 | |||||||
| 11 | S.RASOL |
5 | 5 | |||||||
| 12 | N.BAHAUDDIN |
4 | 4 | |||||||
| 13 | F.ROSTAM |
3 | 3 | |||||||
| 14 | S.EZZARIQ |
2 | 2 | |||||||
| 15 | Y.CHEN |
1 | 1 | |||||||
