PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Moto3 rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin suffered from bad luck as he crashed out of the Japanese Grand Prix before completing a single lap.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider hit the deck after he was hit by South Africa’s Brad Binder at Turn 1. There was further bad luck for the team at the Motegi circuit yesterday as championship leader and team-mate Luis Salom was also involved in an incident with fellow Spaniard Isaac Vinales and crashed out from the race.
Spain’s Alex Marquez took his first win of the season at Motegi with Maverick Vinales in second. Jonas Folger of Germany completes the podium.
With the results, Zulfahmi dropped down from 10th in the standings to 12th on 65 points as the championship moves to Valencia on Nov 10 for the finale.
“There’s not much I can say about this race. It was all over for me on the opening corner, when another rider ran into me and knocked me off the track,” said a dejected Zulfahmi.
In the morning practice session, Zulfahmi had good pace when he clocked 2:00.465 to sit in ninth spot.
“It is a shame, because this morning I felt very good and had a strong pace. I knew that I could go even faster. Now we have to forget about this race and focus on Valencia,” he said.
Meanwhile, Amirul Hafiq Azmi who raced as a replacement for team La Fonte Tascaracing finished the race in 26th spot in 40:.59.475.
In the Moto2 action, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman managed to complete the shortened race when he crossed the line in 29:.47.843 for 23rd spot.
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