A record 96 participants for this exceptional round of the AKOC Championship in Macau. We needed a record number of pictures in our report, we hope you will enjoy it.
We want first and foremost to express our gratitude for your frienship and continuing support of KartingPhotography. It really makes it worthwhile to spend the entire day on the track... rain or shine. So, as a thank you, all the drivers who displayed a Kartingphotography sticker on their visor at Macau will receive a free KartingPhotography T-Shirt at Saraburi next month! Another good reason to compete in the last round of the AKOC Championship, don't you think?
PHOTOS AND RESULTS: TIME TRIALS AND QUALIFYING HEATS
What a meeting it was! Packed with drama (a little bit of it on Saturday), emotions and perhaps even frustration for those who could not make it to the AKOC senior pre final and final, but at the end of the day what matters is that we have all been part of a unique and memorable World Karting Championship. It is not everyday that one has the opportunity to see the best drivers in the world race on slicks in a wet final deciding the winner of the most coveted title of the karting season!
And AKOC again delivered exciting races, particularly in the Junior and Senior classes (Mini Rok provided a little less suspense as you will see).
If you allow us we would like to express a wish: In Saraburi for the last round let's have, if possible, the young KF2 racers drive in their own race to decide for the Sr Open title. This would avoid that a "should better retire now old glory" who thinks that the blue flag is only valid in the straight (!) does not alter again the result of the senior race by blocking the leaders. If you have seen the senior final in Macau and what happened in curve 7 you will know what we mean...
TIME TRIALS
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
| Sasakorn 56.335 | Sukkhavichaya 57.224 | Veravich 57.230 | Andi Tangguh 57.402 | Chr. Gaddi 57.798 |
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | |
| Petch 50.397 | Moh Rahardjo 50.688 | R. Benito 50.691 | Joey Orduna 50.953 | YS Iriawan 51.179 |
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | |
| Series 1 | Lathouras 50.715 | Turalba 50.789 | Reveille 51.016 | Zhu Huan 51.162 | Vica Chong 51.372 |
| Series 2 | Yip 51.449 | Gelael 51.807 | Kurosawa 52.004 | Agustian 52.054 | Lam Ho Yin 52.145 |
Two other Thai drivers clocked the fastest times in the Junior and Senior but, as you all know, the race for the podium is only on Sunday...
MINI ROK QUALIFYING HEATS
Three heats and the same winner in each race: Impressive Sasakorn Chaimongkol from Thailand! Tomomi Takahashi was 2nd in heat 1, Christian Gaddi 2nd in heat 2 and 3rd in heat 3. Otherwise it was Thailand uber alles in that class, with Khun Veravich and Khun Sukkhavichaya always in the top 5. With Miss Tachapan joining the trio in 4th position on the pre final, this is a good sign of the vitality of the sport among young drivers in Thailand.
| 18 entrants | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
| H1 | Sasakorn | Tomomi +6.8 | Sukkhavichaya | Tachapan | Veravich |
| H2 | Sasakorn | Christian +5.1 | Sukkhavichaya | Veravich | Tachapan |
| H3 | Sasakorn | Veravich | Christian | Sukkhavichaya | Andi Tangguh |
| PF Grid | Sasakorn | Sukkhavichaya | Veravich | Tachapan | Perdana |
Miss Tachapan had problems during time trials and is not even on the picture. Which makes her performance all the more impressive. She finished 4th in the first heat and 5th in the second heat!
We have few pics of Khun Sasakorn being followed by competitors on the same pic. This is lap 1 of heat 1 and there is already a gap.
Khun Veravich and Maximilian Fewtrell fought for secong place at the beginning of heat 1 but only finished 5th and 6th. In the background Tomomi Takahashi is catching up...
... and will finish 2nd...
... ahead of Khun Sukkhavichaya (3rd) and Miss Tachapan (4th)
Heat 2 start. Sasakorn, Christian and Sukkhavichaya in that order from beginning to end...
...the big battle is for 4th position in that big group. Khun Veravich (612) will prevail followed by Miss Tachapan (610) and Perdana Putra Minang (602)
Heat 3: In the lead... Khun Sasakorn still closely followed by Khun Veravich. They will finish in that order but with a much larger gap...
Tomomi Takahashi is still 3rd but will retire and finish last...
Antonio Escalante is seen at the forefront. He will gradually drop to 9th but check his visor, he has won a Karting Photography T-Shirt!
In the background: Miss Tachapan and Maximilian are in trouble. Maximilian will retire and Tachapan will still manage to finish 10th
Fighting for 4th position: Khun Sukkhavichaya and Andi Tangguh Farid Faqih
JUNIOR QUALIFYING HEATS
Two wins for Moh Rahardjo and one for Rafael Benito. Almost all their rivals had a problem in one of the qualifying heats. At that stage it looks like the fight at the top in the pre final and the final will be between Moh and Rafael. And it will be the case.
| 24 entrants | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
| H1 | Rahardjo | Petch +0.520 | Orduna | Raj Mayer | Benito |
| H2 | Benito | Rahardjo +3.124 | Orduna | Petch | Iriawan |
| H3 | Rahardjo | Benito +1.023 | Yeo Renquan | Raj Mayer | Villeneuve |
| PF Grid | Rahardjo | Benito | Petch | Raj Mayer | Orduna |
A captivating first heat, with frequent leadership changes and a superb win by Moh Rahardjo
Khun Teravate will have a bad meeting start but he has won a Karting Photography T-Shirt, like several other junior drivers...
Moh is the fastest at the start but he will have to fight for his victory...
A bad crash for Gewiss, Khun Sivapong and Teravate, fortunately nobody got injured...
Lap 1: Joey Orduna is the leader, Moh, in the background, has dropped to 6th...
Orduna, Petch and Benito in the lead...
Petch has the advantage...
It is now Benito, Moh who has made it back to 2nd place, Petch, Orduna and Raj Mayer...
A close finish with a first win for Moh. Petch is 2nd, followed by Joey, Rahul and Rafael
Heat 2: Petch and Moh have not taken full advantage of their front row position, Joey and Rafael are in the lead. On the finish line it will be Rafael, Moh, Joey and Petch...
... followed by 2 valiant Rotax Juniors, Yasuo Senna Iriwan and Teravate
A little emotion at the back of the pack, just on the finish line...
... fortunately without damaging consequences. Andersen's transponder tells the judges that he finished before Miss Thunchanok. Not obvious on the picture!
Heat 3: A good start for Petch but curve 2 will ruin his chances to win...
Rafael in the lead on lap 1, followed by Moh, Joey, Rahul and a fast Rotax-powered Teravate...
Joey is another victim of heat 3...
Moh is leading Rafael, they will finish 1st and 2nd. Teravate has climbed to 3rd!
Very good race for Timothy Yeo who will finally grab 3rd place ahead of Rahul, Christian Villeneuve and Teravate...
... and an excellent 7th position for Archim Lagman (Rok Junior)
SENIOR QUALIFYING HEATS
A first this year in the AKOC Championship: 54 entrants in the senior classes! As the final races can only accomodate 36 drivers the qualifying heats will not only determine the pre final grid but also the fate of the 18 racers who have to be eliminated. Three groups (A, B and C) will race against each other in the 3 qualifying heats.
As Tin Sritrai is racing in the Super KF CIK meeting, Juha Turalba has an opportunity to clinch the title in the Sr Open class but fate will decide otherwise. Juha is involved in a bad crash in his first heat and bends his chassis so badly that he has to retire from the meeting in the second heat. We should have a battle royale between Tin and Juha in the last race at Saraburi.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | |
| A-B | Lathouras | Zhu Huan +0.295 | Kurosawa | Villalon | V. Chong |
| B-C | Hoshino | Reveille +0.889 | LY Ting | Clegg | Fox |
| A-C | Reveille | Hoshino +0.696 | Yip | Lathouras | Zhu Huan |
| PF Grid | Reveille | Hoshino | Lathouras | Zhu Huan | LY Ting |
We were expecting a fight between Pasin and Juha for the top position, it was not to be...
... 2 laps later the group leading the race is composed of Pasin... Aldi Agustian, Zhu Huan and Lock Yan Ting. Missing, because the victims of a bad crash at the very beginning of the heat: Turalba, the leader in the 125 Open Championship, Gary Yip, Michael Fox but also Rosario, Cheong Chi Ong and Wong Hoi Meng.
A narrow victory for Pasin Lathouras, with Zhu Huan and Hayato Kurosawa on his heels...
... Fernando Villalon (326) finishes 4th, Vica Chong (333) 5th, Matthew Lock Yan Ting (315) 6th and Aldi Rizky Agustian (338) 7th.
Heat 2: Juha is joining the race but will soon realize that his kart is undrivable...
Drama again at the start. Vica's engine dies before the start line and he is ejected to the middle of the track
... while Vica is pushed along by Ryan Antony Monoarfa Daniel Tam is in trouble...
... and the bid mess starts. Retirements: Vica Chong, Kurosawa, Vong Ka Kun, Cheong Chi On and John Zhang.
Jonathan Reveille is leading but will soon be overtaken by Koki Hoshino. The 2 will stay together to finish 1st (Hoshino) and second (Reveille), with a 0.889 gap between them
Juha will visit the grass a few times, the chassis is really bent... He will manage to finish, but in 27th position. Good-bye pre final, see you in Saraburi for, we hope, a grand final.
The leaders in a rehearsal for the pre final and final
Matthew Lock, seen here overtaking a very good Tisanu, will finish 3rd...
... followed by Joshua Clegg (4th), Michael Fox (5th) and Tisanu Ratanarat (6th)
Heat 3: Good start by Pasin and Zhu Huan...
... Bis repetita placent, in that case tris repetita placent, the mess again at the start. Drivers are not used to racing among so many competitors...
... a costly learning curve for many...
Zhu Huan is the first leader and will finish 5th... Jonathan has lost some ground but will make it up...
... 3rd is Gary Yip. Koki Hoshino has lost even more ground but will also make it up...
... by overtaking Pasin in the last lap for 2nd position...
... Pasin will lose another position in the last curves to finish 4th behind Gary Yip. Jonathan and Koki have shown that they are the top contenders for the final phase.
Check our next article for the pre finals and finals
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