Asian Onroad Championship Rd2 – Report
Round 2 of the Asian Onroad Championship was held in Seoul, Korea at the beautiful GRC Raceway. This was the fourth visit of the championship to this wonderful facility and beside some very swift local talent it was the 2006 Electric Touring World Champion Andy Moore and 2012 200mm World Champion Meen Vejrak from Thailand who bolstered up the international field. With every passing main in the Modified touring class, no one could guess a winner. In the A1 final, TQ Akio Sobue had collected a win but only managed to finish fifth in the A2 final. E.C Kim had also collected a win in the A2 final and a second place finish in the in the A2 final.
Before the start of the A3 final, everyone hadn’t guessed who was in the lead for points. It was really was anyone’s race and everyone moved forward and concentrated on the last main. Showing one of the cleanest starts of the weekend, Akio Sobue took full advantage of his TQ spot and jumped out into the early lead. With minutes to go on the clock, Akio had a comfortable gap between the battling E.C Kim and Byung Hwan Kim. The pair had everyone cheering through the whole last lap and finishing within 1-tenth of a second of each other with Kim coming out on top. One of the closest finishes in AOC history.
Touring Modified top 5 results:
1. Akio Sobue
2. E.C Kim
3. Byung Hwan Kim
4. Nicholas Lee
5. Yugo Nagashima
In Super Stock 13.5 Touring the overall win wasn’t in the cards for TQ In Mo Kang with a series of misfortunate events that would put him towards the back of the pack in both the A1 and A3 finals while collecting a win in the A2 final. This would put second qualifier Seung Jong Lee to the point taking full command with amazingly a couple of mid-pack qualifiers making a charge. Byoung Wook Park and Jun E stepped it up big time with an impressive overall second and third place podium finishes respectively. Jong Lee put in the work and collected two finals wins for the over all win.
Touring Super Stock 13.5 top 5 results:
1. Seung Jong Lee
2. Byoung Wook Park
3. Jun E
4. I K Lim
5. In Mo Kang
In Stock Touring 21.5 Siu Kim had already shown he was the one to beat during qualifying and he wasn’t letting up for the mains. He threw the hammer down during the mains with ultra precise driving. Always within striking distance, Tae Won Yoon was always on the same lap as Kim but some traffic and bobbles provided Siu Kim with a bigger gap. Kim would go on to win the A1 and A2 finals, sitting out for the A3. This opened the door for Yoon to take the win in the A3 final for the win and the over all second position. Yul Seo would go on to claim the last podium spot.
Touring Stock 21.5 top 5 results:
1. Siu Kim
2. Tae Won Yoon
3. Yul Seo
4. Sin Yang
5. Joung Woo Hyon
It was either going to be TQ Max Park or second qualifier Jun E that would claim the win in the Front Wheel Drive class. Both of these fast guys had impressive runs and lap times during qualifying, but none of that mattered if you couldn’t put together a clean run. The odds were in Park’s favor starting at the front of the grid, but Jun E wouldn’t make it easy for Park being only a couple of car lengths behind. It was amazing to see the two methodically make their way through lapped traffic always maintaining the same gap. Max Park would come out on top in those battles taking the A1 and A2 wins and over all win.
Touring FWD top 5 results:
1. Max Park
2. Jun E
3. Naoya Morita
4. Dongwan Jo
5. I K Lim
It was hard to take the Mini class super serious when these small cute cars are running around the track. With nothing but smiles on all of the spectator’s faces, the top five races in this class were staying consistent earning just the right amount of points to keep them in the positions they qualified. By the end of the last main, amazingly the top five would finish where they started with Ken Lee taking the over all win.
Mini class top 5 results:
1. Ken Lee
2. Hong Sik Min
3. Myung Goog Lee
4. Hong Beom Kim
5. Mool Sam Lee
Source: Asian Onroad Championship [aocrc.com]
