Thailand’s top touring car category, Super 2000, is a firm favourite with the fans as it offers some of the closest racing action you are likely to find anywhere, contact is a way of life in this discipline and it breeds drivers that can take on just about anybody, anywhere. It’s regarded as the most competitive touring car category in South East Asia and certainly boasts the biggest grids in the region.

Unleash that Super 2000 ‘formula’ onto the tight, tricky and unforgiving streets of Bangsaen and you have a recipe for utterly explosive action and this year was to be no different. Not only was the glory of winning the individual races up for grabs at the 9th Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival but also the title fight was mixed in.

In terms of outright race wins there was a new name up in lights on the Sunday afternoon, Khun Kittipol Pramoj Na Ayudhya. He’s a relatively new name to top-level racing here and just five years ago he was pottering around in a beautifully finished classic racing Alfa Romeo. But Khun Kbittipol has steadily and surely worked his way up the ranks of Super 2000 and earned his spurs to become a solid podium fixture and really his first outright win was becoming overdue.

In a category where ruthless mental strength and the ability to totally focus over a fast changing full race distance are paramount to attaining victory Khun Kittipol has tuned himself up perfectly to the task in hand, he’s now an accomplished marathon runner and the mental strengths needed to grittily and determinedly pace himself to the finish on foot while digging ever deeper and deeper into his reserves, translate straight to the cockpit.

While other leading drivers couldn’t stand the heat and quickly joined the ‘DNF’ ranks Khun Kittipol emerged from the Super 2000 carnage on the streets of Bangsaen, albeit with a tiny little bit of luck, with not one but two outright victories to his name and clearly he must now be placed amongst the favorites for the championship title next year. In fact he also claimed double Class B victory and thus made four trips to the most prestigious podium in Thai motorsport.

Meanwhile the championship title went right to the wire and it had a sting in the tail. Bangsaen never adheres to the formbook – never, this is a circuit that demands utter respect and this year was to be no different. Khun Jack Lemvard came into the weekend with a workable 10 point cushion at the top of the standings in Vattana Motorsport’s handy BMW E90 over the RMI’s Racing Team Honda DC 5 driven by Khun Pasarit Phromsombat. When the former was snarled up in carnage at the start of Race 1 and tried to limp to the finish the latter kept out of the worst of the trouble and does what he does best, grabbing points.

Last year Khun Pasarit took the title fight in Super Production all the way to the last flying lap of the second race in Bangsaen to finally turn the tables on his neck to neck rival and win the title by a single point, this year he took the Super 2000 fight to the last race although not exactly to the checkered flag as when Khun Jack’s stand in car for Race 2 abruptly expired on the warmup lap it was all over.

Very impressive work by Khun Pasarit, who now has two championship titles won in two different categories in consecutive years to his name. Great work by the irrepressible Khun Jack too, it must be quickly added, and he wasn’t in anyway at fault that the title slipped from his grasp. Two great titans of Thai motorsport locking horns but there could be only one winner and the mean streets of Bangsaen were to decide the outcome. And in Class B Khun Rudolf Yu came from behind, hooked it all together, kept out of trouble and got the job done.

Super 2000: Saturday (Race 1 of 2)

The first race of the season closing weekend was certainly pumped up by the time the cars grumbled away from the dummy grid and off on the formation lap. The front row comprised of Khun Naiyanobh Bhirombhakdi and Khun Munkong Sathienthirakul, the pair driving in two of the quickest Honda Civic FDs in the field. Both aren’t noted for compromise so fireworks were anticipated.

It didn’t stop there either as Row 2 saw the head to head championship rivals, Khun Jack and Khun Pasarit, lining up alongside each other. With just ten points in it and two races to go, offering a maximum of 40 points, in Bangsaen it was winner takes all. Side by side, that’s the Super 2000 way.

Next up were two more experienced ‘touring car’ hard chargers, Khun Kittipol and Khun Chayut, although this pair combine a lot of mental strength and know races are only decided when the checkered flag is waved. Just on the first three rows of the grid the mix had the potential to be explosive – and it would certainly prove to be the case.

At the green lights the promise of contact at the front of the pack instantly materialized as was expected as the top six runners in fact all came to blows. Of those top six two were out instantly, one struggled on until car damage finally caught up with him, one survived with damage and was able to collect the necessary points required to edge into the championship lead, one dropped to the back of the pack missing his right hand front spoiler section while the fifth placed starter of that half dozen, Khun Kittipol, absorbed a couple of decent hits through Turn 1 and Turn 2, but kept it all steady, dumped the power down, enjoyed a little bit of luck and went on to win.

From the standing start the front row cars made contact as they accelerated and swept right through Turn 1 with Khun Munkong spinning and hitting the barriers while Khun Naiyanobh careering off and brushing along the barriers on the inside as he bounced his way along. Khun Kittipol and Khun Pasarit banged doors through Turn 1 as the latter was forced to push out wide to avoid the side on car of Khun Munkong.

Khun Naiyanobh bobbled his way through Turn 2 with his left hand wheel askew, with Khun Pasarit, Khun Jack, Khun Kittipol, Khun Chayut and the Toyota Altis of Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich swarming all over him although he was slowing to a halt and as they came sweeping around the blind turn. Khun Pasarit had to swing his nose out fast to avoid the black #21 Civic while a blindsided Khun Jack clipped the right hand rear corner of Khun Naiyanobh as he tried to steer clear and swung out into the side door of Khun Kittipol who was coming up the outside and that dislodged the #44 BMW’s front bumper.

Behind Khun Jack on the inside line Khun Chayut was, too, less than lucky, he also caught the right rear corner of Khun Naiyanobh’s stricken car and ripped the left hand front corner of his bumper away but he was lodged up tight and had to wait for the rest of the pack to trundle past while in turn, stuck behind Khun Chayut, was the #26 Civic of Khun Wijak Lertprasertpakorn, who clunked the back of the Honda DC 5 and the #58 factory Toyota Altis of Khun Chen Jian Hong who hit the back of the #26 Civic in front in a concertina motion.

Immediately, the Safety Car was deployed to retrieve the damaged cars of Khun Munkong and Khun Naiyanobh and as the shattered pack trundled its way down to the hairpin it was Khun Pasarit, showing clear signs of damage, leading Khun Kittipol who had emerged apparently unscathed after a couple of decent door bangs between Turn 1 and Turn 2, and then Khun Jack’s car which looked a real mess, the front bumper having come loose, dropped down and was now scraping on the ground while the back bumper had torn away from one corner and was swinging back and forth behind him. The top five was completed by the Toyota Altis of Khun Jakthong Navasoopanich and Khun Rudolf Yu, the latter up four places after starting P9 on the grid, while the biggest winner from the starting carnage was Khun Vasu Saksirivetkul who had jumped all the way from P14 to P6.

As the pack trailed round slowly to complete the first lap and pick up the Safety Car, from the back Khun Chen immediately boxed and the Toyota team hurriedly patched up the front end of the car before getting him back out without losing a lap while Khun Wijak also dived into the pitlane but with too much damage at the front and rear his race was over and he climbed out of the #26 Civic.

Slightly surprisingly Khun Jack’s pitwall kept him out under the Safety Car although with Khun Pasarit now leading the race they had very few options to keep the title fight alive even if the car looked unlikely to make the end of the race. However they forwent the option of pitting for a hasty patch up without losing a lap. By now the loose section of the BMW’s rear bumper had cleanly detached itself although the front was still dragging. While the scraping bumper was making a heck of a racket as he trundled round behind the Safety Car the driver later on said the car was still handling quite well.

At the other side of the title showdown Khun Pasarit was reporting both front and rear suspension damage and the lurid-red DC 5 was looking somewhat lopsided from the front, but it wasn’t enough to hinder him and he was clear to keep racing. Within just two turns of the race both championship hopefuls had suffered car damage, the title was now really on a knife-edge.

At the restart Khun Pasarit came under immediate pressure from Khun Jack and Khun Kittipol with the latter getting a great run to the inside but seemingly mindful of getting in the way of the championship battle didn’t appear to resist Khun Jack coming round the outside too much as the trio powered up the hill after Turn 2.

Throughout that lap Khun Jack pressurised Khun Pasarit for P1 and while Khun Jack’s car was a real mess, Khun Pasarit was clearly struggling with the handling and after taking a look around the outside at the S2 Bangsaen Hotel Hairpin the BMW driver then got the job done through Turn 1 of the next lap to lead his rival up the mountain with Khun Kittipol and Khun Jakthong locking in behind as the top four pulled away a couple of seconds away from Khun Rudolf in P5 who now had Khun Vasu swarming all over him.

A couple of laps later and the destiny of the title took a sharp turn as Khun Jack had a big moment through S2 Bangsaen Hotel Hairpin as his flailing bumper damaged the water cooler and it started to dump fluid which caused the back wheels to loose grip on the coolant and the car spun round. That allowed Khun Pasarit, Khun Kittipol and Khun Jakthong to dive through and it dropped the Vattana BMW down to P4 and into the clutches of Khun Rudolf although it was really the beginning of the end for the #44 car.

Further back the entire midfield was bunched up and Super 2000 was delivering its customary bumper-to-bumper thrills. Two to look out for were Khun Kantadhee Kusiri in the #18 Team Eakie Toyota 86 who was slicing his way through the midfield after starting from P22 after blowing the engine in qualifying and Khun Thamrong Mahadumrongkul in the #24 Singha Cosmo Civic FD who had started from the back having missed the qualifying session due to work commitments.

Khun Kittipol, who had to be quite mindful of Khun Jakthong behind him, locked onto the tail of Khun Pasairt and started to sense his first overall Super 2000 victory beckoning. Once Khun Jack dropped away, that battle became one for P1 and Khun Kittipol quickly closed in on the shiny red #14 DC 5 and powered past him and into the race lead through Turn 1 a lap later. A few corners after that Khun Jakthong took a good look at the struggling DC 5 out of the chicane while behind them Khun Jack, his BMW still ticking along at a good pace, was now closing down the gap to the top three again. The championship leaders were running 2-4 on the road. As it stood the points’ gap would be down to 5, but ominously the BMW’s engine temperatures were rising fast.

Then the Safety Car came out again as the frantic midfield battle came unstuck through the S2 Bangsaen Hairpin. Khun Jetsada Yangpichit was having an impressive race but he lost grip through the turn and collected Khun Thamrong whose car was out on the spot, both front wheels pointing outwards, while at the same moment Khun Narasak Ittritpong suffered a broken engine sensor on the #13 Civic FD and coasted to a halt just a few metres further on through that turn.

As the survivors slowed down once again it was Khun Kittipol from Khun Pasarit and Khun Jakthong while the big winner from the Safety Car was Khun Jack who closed the gap to the top three back up and any low speed caution running would help the BMW which was now overdue for retirement. Behind Khun Jack came Khun Rudolf who was having a steady race and seemingly keeping out of the trouble unfolding around him with Khun Pure Hongsapan next up having just inherited the place with the departure of Khun Vasu, who had just pitted and retired on that lap, the eighth of the race. Then came Khun Nattachak Hanjitkasem in the surviving TBN MK I Here #66 Civic FD, Khun Kantadhee, who had by now pushed his way up to P8 from the back of the grid and clearly had an overall podium finish in his sights as the race started to come to him, and two more drivers charging up from the back, Khun Phatwit Phayakcso and Khun Chayut, the latter seemingly not too troubled by his semi ‘open wheel’ DC 5.

As the safety crews maneuvered Khun Narasak’s static car from the very narrow section after Pit Out where it had coasted to a stop the whole pack came to a halt behind in a long trail that snaked around the hairpin but were quickly underway again.

Then came a huge blow for Khun Jack as the destiny of the title was effectively decided while the race was still under the Safety Car. After a couple of laps under the full course caution Khun Jack’s BMW puffed smoke through Turn 1 and that turned to billowing clouds as he climbed up the mountain section before he pulled off at Turn 5 and coasting to a halt. The engine in the BMW was cooked, his race was over and as things stood Khun Pasarit would be turning a 10 point deficit in the championship into a 5 point advantage with Khun Jack’s only option for the final race being to swap to the team’s decrepit Civic FD which had just retired albeit with a simple to fix issue. However Khun Pasarit ws driving a damaged car and this dramatic race wasn’t quite over yet.

“The bumper hit the water cooler and it started dragging on the floor,” explained Khun Jack afterwards. “Then at the paddock hairpin it started leaking water and it hit my rear tyre and I just did a 180 so fell down to P4,” he recalled. “After [that] the water temp slowly went up and up and never came back down and the Safety Car was out and there was 3 laps to go, so we decided to try to make it home.” His dogged race long fight to stay in the points positions was to be all in vain, but even though the title was slipping away and seemingly out of his hands with one race to go Khun Jack is certainly back and in some style.

There was just time for a couple of flying laps when the Safety Car finally went in for the last time, the caution period having to be further extended to allow Khun Jack’s BMW to be towed away, and seemingly the top three had settled for position as they quickly spread out when the lights turned green again.

Looking imperious Khun Kittipol remained in full control to take a measured 1.261 second win (as well as adding Class B victory). “It was my first time finishing first overall in the Super 2000 race and luck played a big part in keeping me in the race after the first corner incidents,” said a delighted Khun Kittipol afterwards. “Nevertheless, a win is a win and I was over the moon.”

Khun Pasarit meanwhile was very happy to nurse his wobbly-looking car to P2, the angle of his front splitter compared to the track surface had become more and more visually pronounced as the laps counted down, but that result allowed him to bounce into the lead of the championship overnight. “There was a crash around the first corner, I managed to get through but crashed with the car in front and the one behind,” recalled Khun Pasarit afterwards. “My rear suspension was broken and so was the front [but] after the race restarted again I have to try my very best to keep the lead position. The result was very pleasant for me; I finished in second place and became in first place [in the provisional championship standings].

Khun Jakthong, who reported afterwards that his engine had been blowing oil out onto the right front wheel, which had significantly lowered his grip, as well as onto the windscreen, which had in turn reduced his visibility, still claimed a neat and tidy P3 a second and a half back from the DC 5 in front.

Such was the pace of the top three over the last two green flag laps that Khun Rudolf was a further eight seconds down the road and he in the end narrowly survived a side by side drag race to the finishline with Khun Kantadhee, but even more importantly to the Hong Kong driver he was second in Class B and the 15 class points he picked up was vital for this title ambitions – in fact that moved him from the runners up spot to the Class B championship lead, albeit with a very slender six point advantage and one more race to go.

The gap at the white line between Khun Rudolf and Khun Kantadhee was actually just six hundredths of a second. The Hong Kong driver had done enough but the 22 year old star of the future had driven superbly to come up from the twelfth row of the grid to claim the final step of the podium – and crucially with the top five on the grid being reversed for the final race the next day that would put the multi-coloured Toyota 86 bang on pole position.

The big losers of the final spurt to the flag were Khun Pure, who saw his ‘Class 2’ spec Altis overwhelmed by a clutch of top runners after the Safety Car had closed up the gaps and Khun Nattachak. Coming home in P6 was Khun Phatwit, followed by Khun Chayut with Khun Nattachak, third in Class B, and then came the two factory Toyotas of Khun Chen, also fourth in Class B, and Khun Pure, who won Class 2. That wrapped up the top ten.

Just 13 cars survived the race and the final three drivers home were Khun Jetsada Yangpichit, second in Class 2 to emphatically seal the championship title, Khun Thanupat Lerttaweetvit and Khun David Yupensuk, who were also third and fourth in Class 2.

Aside from the dramatic departure of Khun Jack who had retired his battered BMW with just two laps of the race to go, Khun Issares Chirapongsananurak departed from the action on lap 11 while Khun Artit Masathirakul and Khun Vasu were gone a few laps before.

“I had such good start [but] after a few laps the left rear damper started having problems, it unmounted after going over the apexes a few times,” explained Khun Vasu afterwards. “Into the fourth lap the problem escalated and made the car understeer into the barriers, ending the race early.

The remaining retirements came from Khun Narasak, engine sensor failure, and Khun Thamrong, steering damage, as well as Khun Poramin Meesamanyont, who exited the lap before, while the race start mêlée accounted for the cars of Khun Munkong, Khun Naiyanobh and Khun Wijak. Meanwhile Khun Ekprawat had pulled off and retired as soon as the lights had turned green.

Super 2000: Sunday (Race 2 of 2)

For the final Super 2000 race of the weekend – and of the year – the top five of the grid would be reversed as usual and that meant Khun Kantadhee was on pole thanks to his P5 the day before with Khun Rudolf lining up alongside.

Row 2 would see Khun Jakthong and Khun Pasarit next to each other, the latter being the new provisional championship leader by 5 points, and with Khun Jack starting from the back of the grid having taken over the elderly Civic FD that Khun Narasak had raced the day before, the RMI driver seemingly needed to just keep out of trouble to secure the title. The third row saw the previous day’s winner, Khun Kittipol, line up next to Khun Phatwit.

The championship was in fact decided before the lights even went green as Khun Jack pulled off on the formation lap with a broken driveshaft. Reunited after a lengthy hiatus with the Civic FD that had brought him so many wins and so much glory over the past five years there wasn’t to be a happy finale and Khun Jack was soon sprinting back to his garage on foot to get strapped into the team’s Lamborghini Gallardo ‘Extenso’ GT3 ready to take part in the following Super Car Class 1-GT3 race, his Super 2000 title dreams in tatters.

At the green lights Khun Kantadhee made a superb start while Khun Rudolf was very tardily away and was swallowed up by the pack as it thundered into Turn 1 and by the time the cars braked for Turn 2 and swung left up the hill the brightly coloured 86 had pulled out a few car lengths on the chasing pack, which was led out by Khun Jakthong and Khun Kittipol with Khun Pasarit, Khun Chayut, Khun Phatwit, Khun Chen and the slow starting Khun Rudolf slotting in behind.

Over the first lap the leading five cars streaked away pulling out two or three seconds over Khun Phatwit who was dropping back in P6 before another jump back saw Khun Wijak with the fast starting Khun Naiyanobh, in his overnight repaired car, all over the back of him. At the end of the lap Khun Kittipol powered past Khun Jakthong through Turn 1 but much further behind them Khun Issares and the fast starting Khun Thamrong, who was powering up the field from the back in his overnight repaired car, suffered a collision through the S2 Bangsaen Hotel Hairpin for the second day in a row, although again he was blameless. While Khun Issares was able to continue, Khun Thamrong boxed immediately as the incident was in front of Pit In and the Singha Cosmo mechanics hurriedly taped up the broken front end and although he would rejoin the race two laps down and his afternoon was effectively over.

On the second lap Khun Naiyanobh deposed of Khun Wijak to pick up another place but sensationally at the front of the pack Khun Kantadhee suffered a left front tyre deflation and had slipped from P1 to P5 by the time the leaders thundered down the beachfront towards the pits and that elevated Khun Kittipol into the race lead, impressive work in just a couple of laps as he had started from the third row of the grid. For the second day in a row the red, white and black #25 Civic FD had clear air in front of it and here was a driver that wasn’t content with winning his first ever Super 2000 race just 24 hours before, he was in maximum attack mode and hungry for a clean sweep. By the time the cars flew past the paddock turn Khun Kittipol had a few cars lengths in hand already as the trio behind focused on each other.

Second to fourth was becoming the big battle as Khun Kantadhee was now drifting quickly backwards before he peeled off to box and as the trio crossed the start-finish line Khun Chayut nabbed P3 off Khun Pasarit who, in an abrupt reversal of fortunes, had, just a few turns before, been eyeing up Khun Jakthong’s P2.

At the end of the second lap Khun Thanupat had a big moment on the start-finish straight clouting the barrier on the outside and spinning across the track to finish up with the #54 Civic FD’s nose lodged up against the guardrail and that meant the Safety Car was immediately deployed. At the same time Khun Pure spun the #2 Altis all the way round through Turn 2 but he was able to use the mouth of the escape road to turn the car round and get back in the action although he lost considerable time.

A bit further back Khun Vasu was really stretching the rulebook regarding the operation of a ‘moveable aero device’ as his bootlid was frantically flapping up and down. “[It was] pushing the fuel fumes into the car [and my] eyes were burning,” he recalled afterwards with a laugh. “I came back, closed it and went back out.”

Behind the Safety Car it was Khun Kittipol who led the pack with Khun Jakthong, Khun Chayut and Khun Pasarit next up and with Khun Kantadhee pitting Khun Phatwit moved into P5 ahead of Khun Chen Khun, Naiyanobh and Khun Rudolf.

At the restart on lap 6 Khun Kittipol streaked away while Khun Phatwit took a look at Khun Pasarit for P4 but wasn’t close enough, Khun Naiyanobh picked off Khun Chen to move into P6 but as the field headed into the mountain section the engine of Khun David’s Toyota Altezza started to smoke.

The green and white #20 car pulled off on top of the mountain and that brought the Safety Car back out with just a kilometer of green flag racing having been undertaken. There had been just enough time for Khun Naiyanobh to pick off another place and he had slipped past Khun Phatwit for P5.

When the Safety Car peeled off again and green flag racing resumed for a third time Khun Kittipol continued to make it look very easy at the front, immediately powering away, while Khun Naiyanobh continued his electrifying pace to accelerate past Khun Pasarit into Turn 1 and move up to P4.

Within a few turns Khun Naiyanobh had moved up onto the back of Khun Chayut but he then ran very wide through the S2 Bangsaen Hotel Hairpin and lost a place to Khun Pasarit to drop back to P5. The other overnight repaired front row sitter of the previous day, the #11 Civic FD of Khun Munkong, was also making good progress and was well inside the top ten by now while locked onto the back of the main pack was Khun Kantadhee who had pitted under the Safety Car and returned to the race after a tyre change without losing a lap and was soon picking off the tail enders.

Khun Ekprawat suffered his second DNF in two days a lap later and then a lap after that Khun Phatwit slowed up and headed for the pits. Khun Wijak, who had pitted a couple of laps earlier, then made contact with a lapping car out of the roundabout on the ninth lap and hit the guardrail on the inside head on at pace and that saw the safety Car being deployed yet again.

Once more, as the surviving cars formed up in a slow moving snake it was Khun Kittipol, who had built up a 5 second lead at the front with Khun Jakthong, Khun Chayut, Khun Naiyanobh, who had re-passed Khun Pasarit, and then Khun Munkong, who had now worked his way up to P6 and was in sight of the podium, forming up behind. Then it was Khun Rudolf from Khun Wijak, Khun Chen and Khun Kantadhee, the Toyota 86 driver really benefitting from the Safety Car periods as he closed the gaps up following his pit visit.

At the restart, the third of the race, with just a couple of laps to go, Khun Kittipol streaked away once more while Khun Naiyanobh finally got past Khun Chayut through Turn 1 to move into P3, Khun Munkong elbowed out Khun Pasarit to move into P5 and Khun Kantadhee squeezed his way round Khun Chen to move up to P9.

Khun Naiyanobh immediately latched onto the back of Khun Jakthong for P2 and was swarming all over him as the remaining cars completed their first lap after restarting. However Khun Naiyanobh went for the inside of Khun Jakthong into the S2 Bangsaen Hairpin but was carrying far too much speed, went wide and brushed the barriers on the exit of the turn dropping several places as Khun Chayut, Khun Munkong and Khun Pasarit all dived through.

As the pack went into the final lap Khun Munkong lined up Khun Chayut into Turn 1 and passed him before latching onto Khun Jakthong as the three cars headed nose to tail through the mountain section for the last time.

Again Khun Kittipol had pulled away and he had a comfortable last lap and enjoyed a healthy 5.571 second advantage when the checkered flag was waved to win the race overall and also scoop Class B honours, both for a second day on the trot.

“There were many incidents which called for the Safety Car to come out several times, in doing so it helped the fast and hard charging [Khun Naiyanobh] and [Khun Munkong] to jump up the order quickly as they had to start from the back of the grid,” explained Khun Kittipol afterwards. “I had to try to do a qualifying lap performance every time the Safety Car came in so I could put as much air between me and [them]. I managed to get my best lap of the weekend on the second to last lap of the race. It was a big relief to see the checkered flag. A double win was something I never expected. A double win at the prestigious Bangsaen Circuit made it much, much sweeter!”

Behind him Khun Munkong who had been climbing all over the back of Khun Jakthong’s blue and white Altis over the last lap outdragged him to the line to take P2. However after the race Khun Munkong would be slapped with a 90 second time penalty for multiple caution period infringements and that plunged him back to P12 in the final classification.

Instead Khun Jakthong took a very well deserved runners up spot to build on his P3 the day before and to finish the season on a high note with a double overall podium and end a difficult run of three consecutive DNFs he had racked up coming into the season closer.

Third place went to Khun Chayut to end his weekend with a good result. The day before he had fought his way back into the top 10 after sustaining damage to the car on lap 1 which he then had to nurse to the line. In the second race he had a clean run from the start and was always in the middle of the podium action. Fourth went to Khun Pasarit and with Khun Jack failing to score any points that allowed him to increase his overnight advantage at the top of the classification from 5 to 15 points and seize the title in style.

“I have to highly thank the team and the mechanics that managed to fix my car to be ready to get back in the game to get the first place in the total annual rankings,” said Khun Pasarit afterwards. “My situation was that I need to finish the race in second position or higher than Jack Lemvard. Jack had to start last so I wasn’t feeling that much pressure. [At the start] there was trouble with Jack’s car so he needed to get to the pits [and] that allowed me to get the championship title by only finishing the race. I tried my best to keep my position but the other racers were also very fast.”

The final spot on the rostrum went to Khun Kantadhee and it was a well deserved result as for the second consecutive day he had battled his way through the entire pack to finish in fifth place and collect a Bangsaen trophy. Slicing through the eternally squabbling Super 2000 traffic on this demanding street circuit is no mean feat; to do it twice is really an achievement.

Sixth went to Khun Naiyanobh, who also battled through the pack, but then had to recover again after losing ground late on and following his lap 1 Turn 2 DNF in the opening race it was a respectable comeback that also gave him the runners up spot in Class B. Then came Khun Rudolf who eased to the Class B title with that finish, P7 gave him third in class and adding that to the second in class he enjoyed in the first race that was enough to keep him at the top of the championship standings for a second day and hand him the crown.

The top ten was wrapped up by Khun Nattachak and Khun Chen, the pair also filling out the last two steps of the Class B, and Class 2 winner Khun Jetsada, who romped away at the top of the final class standings although he had almost put the title out of reach prior to turning a wheel in Bangsaen.

The remaining finishers were Khun Vasu in P11, he was also second in Class 2, Khun Munkong who shook out back in P12 after his 90 second time penalty was applied, Khun Pure in P13, who claimed P3 in Class 2, Khun Issares in P14 and P4 in Class 2, and finally Khun Thamrong in P15 who was two laps adrift after his early race pit visit. He had completed enough laps to be classified though and his efforts saw him also finish P7 in Class B and pick up a few points.

The retirements were Khun Phatwit, Khun Ekprawat, Khun Wijak, off with an accident, Khun David, out with a smoking PU, Khun Artit, who has an accident on the third lap and Khun Thanupat who suffered a crash the lap before, while the race’s two non starters were Khun Jack, who broke a driveshaft, and Khun Poramin, who had the steering repaired overnight on his DC 5 but it wasn’t deemed fit to race after an installation lap test.