A real hard-fought race for the Borgo Panigale rider, who battled it out with Sykes, Rea and teammate Davies.
Advertisement
World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea secured two more podium finishes with a second and third in Malaysia at the weekend.
The Supersport race will start at 2.20pm Sunday while Race 2 of the Superbike category will start at 4pm.
Nicky Hayden of the United States won the second of the weekend’s two races at a wet Sepang circuit, ahead of runner-up Davide Giugliano.
With no previous wet experience to call on at the resurfaced Sepang circuit both official Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R riders had little time to find a good set-up on full wet tyres.
Only Hayden seemed confident in the initial laps, with Rea and Davies falling back while Sykes and Lowes disputed fourth third.
Alex Lowes on the Pata Yamaha took the holeshot from second on the grid, ahead of Sykes and defending title-holder Rea, while teenage Honda hotshot Michael van der Mark came up from 10th to sixth in one move.
Anthony West, riding as replacement for Sylvain Barrier at Pedercini, lived up to his reputation as a maestro of wet conditions as the Australian came home in the top 5, giving the team their best result of 2016 so far and proving second Kawasaki on Sunday.
Now Tom will go forward to Superpole 1, where he will ride to join Rea and the rest of today’s top ten in Superpole 2.
Jonathan Rea stated: “It is so hard in a weekend when you have all dry sessions, a dry race one – and then two hours before race two a monsoon comes in!”
In a Race postponed until after WorldSBK due to weather conditions at a rainy Sepang, it was British GRT rider Rea who got the best start, rocketing away into the lead in front of reigning Champion Kenan Sofuoglu. On the final corner, Fahmi just lost out to Ayrton Badovini, as the Italian managed to cut back on the inside to beat the Malaysian over the line by a whisker.
Racing Ducati rider Chaz Davies came in third.
Milwaukee BMW’s Josh Brookes (+25.835) finished 12th in the race.
Advertisement
Local hero Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Kawasaki) kept raucous home fans on their feet as he went fifth on the grid to the lead, dicing with Honda rider Ayrton Badovini for the win on the final lap. It will now be interesting to see if Hayden can maintain his newfound victory even at Donnington Park in the United Kingdom at the next WSBK round is scheduled to take place in the next two weeks.
