Broc Pearson celebrates Dream Cup Podium
Broc Pearson reports in from his latest Asia Dream Cup adventure
Promising 15-year-old Queenslander Broc Pearson moved up to third in the Asia Dream Cup standings after a huge weekend at Buriram week before last. The Pacific Pines High School student is participating in the Asian Road Racing Championship between studying towards a Certificate 3 in fitness.
Friday
I had a rough start to Friday, unfortunately in FP1, I went on track with the wrong engine mapping and the wrong gearing which made the bike very boggy and I couldn’t get the bike to rev. I made a quick pit stop half way through FP1 to quickly change back to the standard ECU, as I felt it would have more rpm in it, which it did, but we didn’t have enough time to change the sprocket so unfortunately I couldn’t set a fast la,p and I finished the session in 11th with a 2:09. Hafiz led the way with a 2:06….
In FP2 we made a big step in the right decision, the gearing was much better and we had corrected the engine mapping to suit the track which immediately gave it more rpm in all areas. I focused on slipstreaming other riders as it’s such a big track with very long straights. At the end of the session, I set a 2:06.9 which put me in 5th as once again Hafiz topped the field with a 2:05.
Saturday
Saturday was a rough day. I had a good qualifying and once again we had changed the rear sprocket just to give some more top end, it was a struggle to find clear track as I had a lot of riders wanting to use me as a quick lap. I set my fastest time half way through the session which slotted me in to 2nd with a 2:06.0. I held that second position until the last couple of laps where Febriansha and Hiroki managed to both clock a 2:05.9, pushing me off the front row of the grid in fourth, but I still wasn’t happy with my lap time.
Race One
In race one I was having a great race, I led the race a couple times but sat back for most of it. I couldn’t believe that the group was 15 riders, all within a second, I got pushed off track one lap and went way back, I had a look and thought, ‘am I actually coming last after just leading into that corner’?
It was a very dangerous race and I could not sit back to relax for a single second otherwise I had the fear of getting taken out.
In the last corner on the final lap, I managed to time it perfect to get myself into the podium position but unfortunately a rider from behind over shot the corner and wiped out myself and a few other riders…. I didn’t even have time to think about what had just happened or what mistake I had done, I had too much adrenalin in me to think, only thing I thought about was sprinting to my bike so I could finish the race and get some points.
I definitely had a few things running through my head after the race on the cool down lap but it’s not something to repeat for MCNews.com.au readers!
On the cool down lap, I lowered my anger before coming into the pit, as I knew there were a lot of cameras on me, and professional people watching, so I remained calm and focused on all the positives, and that there was another race tomorrow.
Sunday
On Sunday we had a quick 10-minute warm up in the morning, I tried using the inside line in the final corner to make sure I wasn’t going to get wiped out when it came to this race. I didn’t even bother to put in a lap shooting for a time, as I just saved my tyres and then worked hard to practice the inside line of the corner. I didn’t even bother to check to position I finished the warm up in. ….
Race Two
The second race was very enjoyable, I had a great start and I managed to hang in for the first couple laps and the first six of us managed to split away from the rest of the pack.
On lap three I made a mistake in the final corner and ran off the track, dropping me off the leading group. I really put the throttle down to catch back up to the leaders. I then sat on the back of the group, just so I could relax and not get involved in any carnage.
On the last lap, the second group managed to work together to catch us, so it then became a nine rider battle for the win. I made a mistake on the start of that final lap, putting me back in ninth and my instant thought was, “did I just blow the race by that one mistake’? But going into turn four I braked later and made up four positions entering the turn… I sat in this position until the final corner, where I then slotted up the inside and got a good run out of the corner to finish third, only half a wheel from second.
I was so happy to finally be getting into the box after the race, half way through the cool down lap I thought, ‘if only I had done that yesterday, and I would’ve been able to get two podiums’? But that’s what happens in racing..
I’m so happy to be sitting third in the championship points.
Asia Dream Cup Race One – Buriram
- Muhd Febriansyah
- Hiroki Nakamura +0.138
- Hafizh Nor Azman +0.600
- Koko Masaharu Tadachi +1.123
- Sittipon Srimoontree +1.318
- Bui Duy Thong +2.025
- Zhou Shung Jun Jie +2.520
- Yassiin Gabriel Somma +3.217
- Jaden Gunwardena +3.343
- Broc Pearson +17.544
Asia Dream Cup Race Two – Buriram
- Hiroki Nakamura
- Hari Krishnan +0.158
- Broc Pearson +0.177
- Koko Masaharu Tadachi +0.269
- Woraphod Niamsakhonsakul +0527
- Hafizh Nor Azman +0.716
- Sittipon Srimoontree +0.980
- Yassiin Gabriel Somma +8.657
- Sethu Rajiv +13.241
- Corey Briffa +13.437
Asia Dream Cup Championship Points Standings
- Hiroki Nakamura 95
- Hafiz Nor Azman 66
- Broc Pearson 46
- Md Febriansyah 38
- Koko Masaharu Tadachi 37
