KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah missed the podium position in the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) Race 1 at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), today. Despite starting the first race of the fifth round from pole position in the Asia Superbike 1000cc category, the JDT Racing Team rider only managed to claim fifth place, clocking 25 minutes and 38.191 seconds. Japanese rider Yuki Kunii of SDG Team HARC-PRO Honda Ph triumphed in the race clocking 25:31.250s, followed by another Malaysian rider Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (25:34.412s) of TKKR BMW Racing Team and Thailand's Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (25:36.101s) of Honda Asia-Dream Racing with Astemo. Former MotoGP rider Hafizh Syahrin, who was leading till second lap, experienced a slight wobble to allow Yuki and Azlan Shah to overtake him, while Nakarin pulled ahead of Hafizh in the fifth lap. 'Since yesterday, I felt great with the bike and the track, and I have confidence in my pace. Although Hafizh delivered an incredible lap time in the qualifying, I knew my strength was in the race. 'I focused on my own performance, and in the end, I achieved the victory. I am delighted, especially as my championship standings are improving,' Yuki said in a statement ahead of Race 2, tomorrow. Meanwhile, Selangor's Muhammad Helmi Azman from Idemitsu Boon Siew Honda Racing Team notched his first victory of the season in the SuperSport 600cc category with a time of 21:54.779s. Thailand duo Apiwath Wongthananon (21:55.511s) from Yamaha Tekhne Racing Team ASEAN and Kiattisak Singhapong (22:04.425s) from the Honda Racing Thailand completed the podium. "I was confident in my pace and knew it would be fast, so I focused on maintaining control. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported me. This victory is for all of you,' he said. Source: BERNAMA News Agency