Asia Road Racing Championship

FIM Asia Road Racing Championship
	FIM ARRC Official Logo
Category	Motorcycle sport
Region	Asia
Classes	Asia Superbikes 1000cc; SuperSports 600cc; Asia Production 250cc; Underbone 150cc;
Official website	www.asiaroadracing.com
ASB1000
Constructors	Honda, Kawasaki, BMW, Yamaha, Ducati
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Riders' champion	2019 Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman
Constructors' champion	BMW
Teams' champion	ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team
SuperSports 600cc
Constructors	Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Riders' champion	2019 Peerapong Boonlert
Constructors' champion	Yamaha
Teams' champion	Yamaha Thailand Racing Team
Asia Production 250cc
Constructors	Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, TVS
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Riders' champion	2019 Andy Muhammad Fadly
Constructors' champion	Kawasaki
Teams' champion	Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki Racing
Underbone 150cc
Constructors	Honda, Yamaha
Tyre suppliers	Dunlop
Riders' champion	2019 McKinley Kyle Paz
Constructors' champion	Yamaha
Teams' champion	UMA Racing Yamaha Philippine Team
	Current season

The FIM Asia Road Racing Championship is the regional motorcycle road racing championship for Asia, held since 1996.

This championship is part of the production-based category of racing, similar to the Supersport World Championship, British Supersport Championship and AMA Supersport Championship. Modified versions of road-going motorcycles available to the public are featured in the race.

The championship is currently divided into four open-make classes - the ASB1000 (Asia Superbikes), SuperSports 600cc, Asia Production 250cc and Underbone 150cc. The new Asian Superbikes class revved off in 2019.

Overview

The Asia Road Racing Championship was first organized in 1996 as part of an Asian-wide initiative boost the development of the sport of motorcycle racing in the continent. The championship received the endorsement of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM, "International Motorcycling Federation") in 1997 and has been recognized since as the Asian continental championship for the FIM.^[1]

The commercial rights are owned by Two Wheels Motor Racing, with FIM Asia as the sports sanctioning body.

The 2020 season consists of seven rounds with two races organized per round.^[2]

Circuits

The championship tours in Asia but is open to riders from all nationalities.

The Asia Road Racing 2020 season consisted of 14 races at 5 circuits in 5 Asian countries.

Round 1, March 7 & 8, 2020, Malaysia, Sepang Circuit
Round 2, May 9 & 10, 2020, Australia, The Bend Motorsport Park
Round 3, June 27 & 28, 2020, Japan, Suzuka Circuit
Round 4, July 25 & 26, 2020, China, Zhuhai International Circuit
Round 5, August 22 & 23, 2020, Thailand Chang International Circuit
Round 6, September 26 & 27, 2020, Malaysia, Sepang Circuit
Round 7, November 28 & 29, 2020, Thailand Chang International Circuit

Other venues that had previously hosted the Asia Road Racing Championship included:

Shah Alam, Malaysia, Shah Alam Circuit
Bogor, Indonesia, Sentul International Circuit
Nakhonchaisee, Thailand, Thailand Racing Circuit
Batangas, Philippines, Batangas Racing Circuit
Subic Bay, Philippines, Subic Bay International Raceway^[3]
Chennai (Madras), India, Madras Motor Race Track
New Delhi, India, Buddh International Circuit
Sepang, Malaysia, Sepang International Circuit
Fukuoka, Japan, Autopolis Circuit
Doha, Qatar, Losail International Circuit

2020 race classes and motorcycles

Race class	BMW	Ducati	Honda	Kawasaki	Yamaha	TVS
ASB1000	S1000RR	Panigale V4R	CBR1000RR R Fireblade	ZX-10RR	YZF-R1M
SuperSports 600cc			CBR600RR		YZF-R6
Asia Production 250cc			CBR250RR	Ninja 250	YZF-R25	TVS Apache RR 310
Underbone 150cc			RS150R		YSuku

Current broadcasters

Worldwide

Live coverage, on-demand, and highlights for free practices, qualifications, and races is available on Asia Road Racing Championship's official Facebook page and Youtube channel, as well as Bikeandrace.com.^[4]

Asia-Pacific

Country/Region	Broadcaster
Brunei	Astro Arena
Malaysia	Astro Arena

	RTM
China	Selected regional channels, online platforms, and social medias
China	Star Sports

Korea
Hong Kong	Fox Sports
Macau
Mongolia
Papua New Guinea
Southeast Asia Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Vietnam
Indonesia	tvOne
Thailand	True4U

Spain (the one and only European country)

All races are streamed through subscription service DAZN.

Chronology: winners and race classes

1996–1999

The road racing series began on 2-stroke engines.

Year	Series Production 250cc (2-stroke)	Sports Production 150cc (2-stroke)	Underbone 125cc (2-stroke)	Underbone 110cc (2-stroke)
1996	Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini	Direk Achawong		Somkuan Raemee
1997	Chow Yan Kit	Direk Achawong	Niphon Saengsawang	Eakrach Punbuppha
1998	Youichi Nakajima	Direk Achawong	Eakrach Punbuppha	Amporn Siriphat
1999	Naoto Ogura	Direk Achawong	Eakrach Punbuppha	Surapong Boonlert

2000

The gradual shift to 4-stroke engines began in 2000 when the SuperSports 600cc class replaced the previous 250cc bikes as the premier class of the championship.^[5]

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	GP125 (2-stroke)	Underbone 125cc (2-stroke)	Underbone 110cc (2-stroke)
2000	Chia Tuck Cheong	Suhathai Chaemsap	Surapong Boonlert	Thammanoon Sillapakul

2001–2002

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	GP125 (2-stroke)	Underbone 125cc (2-stroke)
2001	Chia Tuck Cheong	Direk Achawong	Mazlan Khamis
2002	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Suhathai Chaemsap	Mohamad Hisham Ngadin

2003

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 125cc (2-stroke)
2003	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Mohamad Hisham Ngadin

2004–2005

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 125cc (2-stroke)	Underbone 115cc (4-stroke)
2004	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Ahmad Fazli Sham	M. Fadli Immammuddin
2005	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Ahmad Fazli Sham	Doni Tata Pradita

2006

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 115cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 115cc (Under 21)
2006	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Gilang Pranata Sukma	Feizy Juniardith

2007–2011

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 115cc (4-stroke)
2007	Decha Kraisart	Wahyu Widodo
2008	Toshiyuki Hamaguchi	Owie Nurhuda
2009	Chalermpol Polamai	Mohd Affendi Rosli
2010	Decha Kraisart	Hadi Wijaya
2011	Katsuaki Fujiwara	Rafid Topan Sucipto

2012–2014

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 115cc (4-stroke)	Asia Dream Cup
2012	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Hadi Wijaya	Hikari Okubo
2013	Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman	Hadi Wijaya	Hiroki Ono
2014	Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi	Gupita Kresna Wardhana	Khairul Idham Pawi

2015–2016

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 130cc (4-stroke)	Asia Dream Cup	Suzuki Asian Challenge
2015	Yuki Takahashi	Takehiro Yamamoto	Gupita Kresna Wardhana	Mukhlada Sarapuech	Andreas Gunawan
2016	Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi	Apiwat Wongthananon	Wahyu Aji Trilaksana	Hiroki Nakamura	Jefri Tosema

2017

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 150cc (4-stroke)	Suzuki Asian Challenge
2017	Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman	Gerry Salim	Md Akid Aziz	Punchana Kulrojchalalai

2018

Year	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 150cc (4-stroke)
2018	Ratthapong Wilairot	Rheza Danica Ahrens	Md Helmi Azman

2019–2020

Year	ASB1000 (4-stroke)	SuperSports 600cc (4-stroke)	Asia Production 250cc (4-stroke)	Underbone 150cc (4-stroke)
2019	Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman	Peerapong Boonlert	Andy Muhammad Fadly	McKinley Kyle Paz
2020

Notable achievements

The Asia Road Racing Championship is a mix of well-known riders racing against upcoming talents from the Asian region. Some of the big names that have contributed to the growth of the sport of road racing in Asia include Katsuaki Fujiwara, Ryuichi Kiyonari,^[6] Yuki Takahashi and Noriyuki Haga.^[7] In 2016, Anthony West was the latest addition in the roster of internationally recognized names.^[8] For the 2019 season, Australian racers who have participated in both MotoGP and World Superbike take part in the series, they are Broc Parkes, and Bryan Staring.

This formula of pitting upcoming talents against seasoned campaigners have resulted in a number of successes. In recent years, riders from the Asian region are beginning to make their breakthrough into the MotoGP arena. These include:

Shahrol Yuzy Ahmad Zaini (250cc, 1996 to 2002)
Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (Moto2, 2013 to 2015)^[9]
Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (Moto2, 2011 to 2017; MotoGP, 2018 to present)
Thitipong Warokorn (Moto2, 2013 to 2015)
Rafid Topan Sucipto (Moto2, 2012–13, 2018)
Doni Tata Pradita (GP250cc, 2008; and Moto2, 2013)
Dimas Ekky Pratama (Moto2, 2019)
Khairul Idham Pawi (Moto3, 2016; Moto2, 2017 to present)^[10]
Hiroki Ono (Moto3, 2013 to 2016)

On July 4 to 11, 2016, five young riders from the Asia Production 250cc class became the first batch of riders to be trained at the VR46 Academy in Italy as part of the Yamaha|VR46 Master Camp. They were Peerapong Loiboonpeng (21, Thailand), Imanuel Putra Pratna (19, Indonesia), Galang Hendra Pratama (17, Indonesia), Soichiro Minamimoto (16, Japan) and Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin (16, Malaysia).^[11]^[12]

References

^ "Road Racing - FIM ASIA". Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ (ARRC)
^ "The Marlboro Asia Pacific Philippines leg at Subic Bay - by Paul Peczon". www.dot.com.ph. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ "Asia Road Racing Championship on Instagram: "The 1st Race Week of #ARRC2020 is here! Catch Round 1 LIVE on 👇🏼 1. Facebook Asia Road Racing Championship 2. YouTube Asia Road Racing 3.…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2020-03-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "New Categories For FIM Asia Road Racing". Utusan Online. Archived from the original on 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Kiyonari to compete in Asia Road Racing Championship | BSB News". Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Haga signs with Suzuki for Asia Road Race Championship | WSBK News". Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ "Motorcycling Australia: News Single". www.ma.org.au. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ "Kamaruzaman To Join Honda Team Asia For Remainder Of FIM Moto2 World Championship". www.roadracingworld.com. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ "Honda Worldwide | Motor Sports | MotoGP | Honda Riders Close Up | Moto3 Khairul Idham Pawi Honda Team Asia". world.honda.com. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
^ Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Rossi takes Master Camp riders to Misano | MotoGP News". Retrieved 2016-07-12.
^ Sports, Dorna. "Five rising stars head to VR46 Master Camp". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2016-07-12.

External links

Official website

[1] "Road Racing - FIM ASIA". Retrieved 2016-07-11.

[2] (ARRC)

[3] "The Marlboro Asia Pacific Philippines leg at Subic Bay - by Paul Peczon". www.dot.com.ph. Retrieved 2016-07-11.

[4] "Asia Road Racing Championship on Instagram: "The 1st Race Week of #ARRC2020 is here! Catch Round 1 LIVE on 👇🏼 1. Facebook Asia Road Racing Championship 2. YouTube Asia Road Racing 3.…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2020-03-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[5] "New Categories For FIM Asia Road Racing". Utusan Online. Archived from the original on 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-07-11.

[6] Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Kiyonari to compete in Asia Road Racing Championship | BSB News". Retrieved 2016-07-11.

[7] Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Haga signs with Suzuki for Asia Road Race Championship | WSBK News". Retrieved 2016-07-11.

[8] "Motorcycling Australia: News Single". www.ma.org.au. Retrieved 2016-07-11.

[9] "Kamaruzaman To Join Honda Team Asia For Remainder Of FIM Moto2 World Championship". www.roadracingworld.com. Retrieved 2016-07-11.

[10] "Honda Worldwide | Motor Sports | MotoGP | Honda Riders Close Up | Moto3 Khairul Idham Pawi Honda Team Asia". world.honda.com. Retrieved 2016-07-11.

[11] Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Rossi takes Master Camp riders to Misano | MotoGP News". Retrieved 2016-07-12.

[12] Sports, Dorna. "Five rising stars head to VR46 Master Camp". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2016-07-12.

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