Only one round to go before the end of the 2017 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship season, but team UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor had cemented their position as the best Underbone team in Asia.
While the title chase is still on among the top riders in the Underbone 150cc category, team UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor had managed to amass 189 points after five rounds. The 60-point margin between them and arch-rival team SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing will ensure that the Team Award trophy of the Underbone class will stay in the hands of the Malaysia-based outfit.
Team UMA Racing raised eyebrows at the beginning of the season with their decision to field two rookie riders in the highly competitive Underbone class. Instead of their top-flight performers in the domestic championship – Kasma Daniel Kasmayuddin and Ahmad Fazli Sham – the team opted for a rookie combination. Even though Mohd Akid Aziz and Mohd Haziq Mohd Fairues had already begun making waves in the Malaysian domestic championship, it was unusual for a team to race without a lead rider.
However, team UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor’s faith in their two young proteges paid off in spades when they began raking in one podium finish after another. Double podiums were the norm in 2017. Their worst result came from Race 1 of the second round in Buriram when Akid suffered a DNF and Haziq was only able to finish sixth.
This will not be UMA Racing’s only achievement this year. The team is also enjoying tremendous success in the PETRONAS AAM Malaysian Cub Prix Championship. There, racing as PETRONAS Sprinta Yamaha Maju Motor, the team had been virtually peerless in the CP150 and CP115 category.
