SEPANG, Nov 12 — An aggressive move by Moto3 rider Syarifuddin Azman at the 2023 Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) race backfired as he crashed, ending the competition in the last spot at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) today.
Recalling the moment of the crash, the 22-year-old, popularly known as Damok, said with three laps remaining, he was trying to close the gap with the rider in front as he was confident he could score points.
“I overtook one rider and tried to catch up with the front rider and may have exceeded the limit, so I tried to attack from the corner, and I lost (control), maybe because I was too aggressive.
“In the 10th lap, I saw that I was in a position (to fight for points), so I was confident I could finish the competition in 13th position, but it was not meant to be this week,” said the MT Helmets-MSi rider, who finished the competition in 20th position with a time of 34 minutes 25.180 seconds.
Damok, however, remains optimistic about his chances as he gains confidence with the KTM machine with two Grand Prix races remaining, namely at Lusail International Circuit in Qatar (November 17 to November 19) and Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, Spain (from November 24 to November 26).
“I hope the team keeps the same machine for the next race so I will be more confident…With two rounds remaining, I hope I can perform well and collect points,” he said.
Meanwhile, Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP’s Collin Veijer took the Moto3 title after clocking 33:30.072s while his team-mate, Japan’s Ayumu Sasaki, finished second with 33:30.138s followed by Leopard Racing’s Jaume Masia in third with 33:30.400s.
Meanwhile, the country’s Moto2 wildcard rider, Helmi Azman of the Petronas MIE Racing RW team, was thankful to finish the race in 23rd place after recording a time of 37:14.318s in front of local fans.
“This is one of the biggest races in my life, so I am grateful to be able to finish the race in front of a huge audience,” he said.
Another national representative who also raced on a wildcard ticket, Azroy Hakeem Anuar, expressed disappointment over not being able to finish the race after falling down twice on the circuit.
“Today, I did not feel positive at all because I fell on the first lap, but there was no mistake (on my part), and then I fell again, and I do not know why. When I asked the team, they said it might be because of the tires,” he said.
Beta Tools SpeedUp rider Fermin Aldeguer emerged champion in Sepang for the Moto2 class after recording a time of 36:04.378s followed by Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Pedro Acosta in second place (36:11.506s) and OnlyFans American Racing rider Marcos Ramirez in third (36:13.936s).
— Bernama
