AHM's Single Racing Development Able To Conquer Asia And Make Historical Series

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - The proud racer of Astra Honda Racing Team (AHRT), Rheza Danica Ahrens was lined up as the champion of the 2023 Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) in the Asia Production (AP) 250 class, Sunday 3 December.

This victory closed a series of achievements by the PT Astra Honda Motor (AHM) racing team in the Asian racing scene. This achievement is inseparable from the tiered racing development from AHM which began when he was a youngster in Astra Honda Racing School.

The struggle for the Astra Honda racing event this season starts from the national sports racing arena, the Mandalika Racing Series. In this event, Astra Honda fielded its mainstay riders, namely Rheza Dhanica Ahrens, Herjun Atna Firdaus, Veda Ega Pratama, and MK Ramadhipa in the National Sport 250cc class.

While in the National Supersport 600cc class, AHM fielded M. Adenanta Putra. Held in three executions with 2 races each, Astra Honda riders using CBR250RR and CBR600RR appeared dominant. Rheza won the title in the 250cc and Adenanta classes in the 600cc class.

In the realm of Thailand Talent Cup (TTC) which is the initial phase of international racing development, AHM fielded seeded racers, namely M.K Ramadhipa and Decksa Almer Alfarezel. In the midst of the siege of the hosts' young riders, Decksa and Ramadhipa managed to dominate the achievements in this event.

As many as 15 podiums they managed to fly, of which the 5 highest podiums were won by Decksa. This achievement made this teenager from Bogor, West Java, win the 2023 TTC title earlier even though the race still leaves one series. While Ramadhipa was in second place with 166 points and the champion, Decksa won 243 points.

In the Asian level racing competition, Veda Ega Pratama, Reykat Fadillah, and Chessy Meilandri became young racers who competed in the Asia Talent Cup (ATC) race track. Sweet results were achieved by Astra Honda drivers in this event, not only scoring achievements, at this event Veda managed to record history for the Asian world and also Indonesia.

Veda's IATC 2023 title since the Sepang series, Malaysia made him the first Indonesian racer to win this title. The achievement of 256 points he collected this season has also become a record for the most points collections during the implementation of this potential young Asian racer event since 2015.

The nine victories he won were also the most wins in this Asian talent racing event, where the clean sweep (2 times the highest podium in one series) was successfully achieved by Veda in the Motogi-Japan series, Mandalika-Indonesia, and Losail-Qatar, then he won the highest podium once in two Sepang-Malaysia and Buriram-Thailand series.

"Alhamdulillah, I won the IATC 2023 champion. Thank you to PT Astra Honda Motor for supporting me in my 2 years of participation in IATC, both parents, and of course all Indonesian people who always support me. Hopefully I can continue to excel for Indonesia in the international racing arena," said Veda.

In other Asian racing competitions, namely the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC), the dominance of Astra Honda drivers is unstoppable. In the Asia Production (AP) 250 class, Astra Honda racers filled by Rheza Danica Ahrens, Herjun Atna Firdaus, and Veda Ega Pratama continue to fill the podium ranks in almost every race. This result also makes AHRT a team with the most points and won the fifth title in the team in the AP250 class, as well as inaugurating CBR250RR as the champion motor in the Asian racing scene.

For points that have the potential to win, the race for the title being hunted by Herjun and Rheza brought both of them to compete until the final race of the Buriram series. Although Rheza did not reach the podium in the two races in the Buriram series, he was able to secure the position of champion with 206 points, while Herjun was in second place with 198 points and Veda was in third place with 160 points.

In the Supersport (SS) 600 class played by M. Adenanta Putra and Gerry Salim, the struggle of both of them also deserves appreciation with Adenanta who first dropped in this class, this young man from Magetan, East Java was able to be in 7th place with 89 points in the final standings. While Gerry, although he was unable to finish the race until the final series due to his injury during the Japanese series, he was able to collect 25 points and was in 15th place.

The series of achievements achieved by Astra Honda drivers at this prestigious Asian racing event provided a separate existence with the achievement of 104 podiums participating in this event in 2014.

"I am grateful to be able to win AP250 again for the second time. This is not easy because I have to compete until the last race. I thank Astra Honda Racing Team for continuing to motivate me to score achievements this year," said Rheza.

World Level Racing Competition

The achievements achieved by Astra Honda racers are not only at the Asian level. Fadillah Arbi Aditama, an Astra Honda racer who competed in the FIM JuniorGP event, which is a world racing arena for potential young riders, was able to make achievements and history by occupying the highest podium in the Catalunya series. The 39-point achievement that he collected from the holding of 7 prestigious world-level racing series also shows progress on his achievements last season.

"I am happy with the results of this season, where I was able to record the first victory on the highest podium. Thank you Astra Honda, my team, and my family for their support," said Arbi.

Meanwhile, in the competition for the world motocross event, namely the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) which was followed regularly by the main crosser of Astra Honda, Delvintor Alfarizi showed positive developments. Fighting in the MX2 class together with JM Racing Astra Honda, Adel Delvintor's nickname appeared competitive by packing 28 points.

Despite suffering injuries at the start and end of the series he followed, Adel's struggle deserves appreciation considering it was his first season of adapting to challenging and loaded European circuits with positive provisions for the advancement of his racing performance.

The various achievements and historical achievements achieved by Astra Honda racers cannot be separated from the coaching of tiered racing, which was structured with precision from Astra Honda Racing School to world racing levels. Gerry Salim, Andi Farid Izdihar, and Mario Suryo Aji are racers who have been involved in Astra Honda racing since young to experience world racing competition.

This is also in line with the spirit of One Heart, where AHM strives to continue to support the world of racing in the country by delivering potential racers to realize their dreams of competing at the world level.