The high percentage of new race venues have made it tough for the Honda teams to make an impact in the 2016 PETRONAS AAM Malaysian Cub Prix Championship. While the Yamaha contingent romped to the top of the standings led by the indefatigable Kasma Daniel Kasmayuddin, Norizman Ismail is the only Honda rider within the CP130 top five. The senior Harian Metro YTEQ SCK Honda Racing rider is hanging by a thread in third overall position with 68 points.
“This year’s campaign has been quite a struggle, especially in the new race tracks like Pasir Mas in Kelantan and Kemaman in Terengganu. The new race tracks were short yet highly technical and it was difficult for us to find the right engine and suspension setup. It’s a miracle that we are still third overall in the riders’ rankings considering we lost a lot of points due to mechanical failure in Kelantan and Terengganu,” said Norizman.
In the three remaining legs of the 2016 season, Norizman has grudgingly admitted that the overall title had already been lost.
“The team strategy at the beginning of the year was to pour all our efforts on to our junior rider Hafiz Nor Azman. Everyone was relishing a straight out battle between him and Kasma. Unfortunately, things did not pan out that way and suddenly I find myself back in the limelight trying to defend team honours. We will have to race very strategically for the next three rounds. With Ahmad Afif Amran and Ahmad Fazrul Sham threatening our position, it will be very important to know when to attack for the podium, and when to play it safe in order to collect important points,” said Norizman who had never ranked outside of the top five in the past five years.
