Galang's Battle in the Lead Group Ends with a DNF

Glorious sunshine and temperatures ranging from 23°C-27°C greeted the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Challenge riders all weekend at the TT Circuit Assen for Round 2 of the WorldSSP Championship and all five took their chance to impress at the historic track.

Galang Hendra Pratama (Yamaha Pata | Semakin di Depan | Biblion Motoxracing Team) showed incredible pace all weekend and was the only bLU cRU rider to make it through to SP2 where he set the 10th best time.

The leading bLU cRU rider at the opening round in Aragon impressed once again, showing sensational pace throughout the weekend. The 19-year-old Indonesian led the way for all the Yamaha riders on Friday, despite it being his first visit to the TT Circuit Assen, as he set a 1:51.860 on his R3 to finish free practice in 8th, just 0.973s off top spot. Making it through to SP2 automatically, he was the quickest Yamaha rider once again as he set the tenth fastest time during the 15-minute session with a 1:52.184, but was later penalised three grid positions for riding slowly on the racing line.

This meant he started the race from 13th but immediately, he was involved in the battle with the leading group, displaying tremendous skill to stay with them and pushing at the absolute limit. Unfortunately, in his efforts to stick with the leading riders, he pushed just that little bit too hard and crashed out on lap 4 at Turn 5 after contact with another rider. It was a nasty looking high-speed crash and after checks at the Medical Centre, he went to the local hospital for further assessment but, luckily, it was revealed he had escaped with just bruising to his left shoulder and a mild concussion and he will be back to full fitness by Imola.

The action will return at Round 3 of the 2018 WorldSSP300 Championship at Imola on the 11th-13th of May.

Comments

Galang Hendra Pratama (DNF)
"I had started well on Friday and made it into SP2 which was good. I qualified in tenth and had a good setup with my bike in Warm Up. Obviously, I am very disappointed to crash out of the race but I was lucky to escape any serious injury as it was a high-speed crash. I am sorry to my team and all my fans. I was pushing right on the limit to try and keep up with the leading group when it happened but I will try and take the positives from the weekend and learn from this experience. I am determined to come back stronger in Imola."