FIM ASIA SUPERMOTO CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016 NEWCASTLE | AUSTRALIA'S LUKE GEORGE AND MALAYSIA'S MUHAMMAD HABIBULLAH aka GABIT TRIUMPHS IN RACE 1

• Australia’s Luke George took pole position and triumphed in Race 1
• Malaysia’s Muhammad Habibullah bin Mohd Saleh and Mohammad Khairi bin Zakaria took top two spots under the Asian Class
• Dirt section became the determining point of the riders’ ranking

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA, 3 SEPTEMBER 2016 – The FIM Asia Supermoto Championship 2016 Race 1 of Round 1 ended with an astounding showdown between riders from 12 countries, contending for the championship points. Australia’s Luke George secured the top spot today with overall timing of 17:33.
 
“Awesome” was the first word mentioned by Luke during the interview. “I was distant from the start but managed to pass through the others and caught up to the front on the fifth or sixth lap.”
 
The 329-metres off-road track became the breaking point of determining riders’ race rankings. The start of the race saw riders going elbow-to-elbow, forcing through the tight hairpin on turn 1, causing a collision. That presented an advantage to leading riders including Luke George and Andrew Mcleish to break away. Several laps later, riders took precaution at the dirt and switched focus to the tarmac section’s long straights along the harbour.
 
Team Singapore and Team Australia put on a neck-to-neck battle in the first few laps where both teams probing their rival’s capabilities in contending for the top spot. But soon after the clash, team Australia took the lead leaving Singapore’s Muhammad Hasroy bin Osman behind.
 
Malaysia’s Muhammad Habibullah took top spot under the Asian Class by completing the race in 18:00 ahead of his second spot teammate, Mohammad Khairi bin Zakaria, by 31 seconds. “The cold and breezy weather made me tired and numb so I’ll need to focus more on tomorrow’s race. There will be changes to a set of new model of tyres and hopefully I can adapt to during the practice session tomorrow morning. Definitely looking forward to better results in the overall category.”
 
Youngest contender from Japan, Makoto Arai, 19, took fifth place in the Asian Class. “The race was good and competitive. Luke George has been a real contender and I will put my best foot forward to compete against him in Race 2.”
 
Similarly, Frenchman Boris Chambon thought the race was tough as the long dirt track was at an advantage for motocross riders. “I will make some mechanical modification to my bike and have fun tomorrow.”
 
Race 2 of the FIM Asia Supermoto Championships 2016 Newcastle round will commence tomorrow, 4 September 2016, at Foreshore Park Newcastle.
 

 
The FIM Asia Supermoto Championships 2016 is a regional supermoto championship organised by Asia Supersports Group, a consortium of three companies namely Bikenation Motorsports Sdn Bhd, CW Media Sdn Bhd and E-Plus Entertainment Productions (M) Sdn Bhd, and supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, Malaysia Major Events, Malaysia Truly Asia, Destination NSW, Tourism Hunter, Newcastle City Council, FIM Asia, Automobile Association of Malaysia (AAM), KYT, KTM Malaysia and Premium World Motorsports (PWM) Sdn Bhd, official distributor of Husqvarna in Malaysia.