Father’s hug, Adam’s gutsy performance help El Pescao
SEPANG: The family spirit and that of national Moto3 rider, Adam Norrodin were the key to the success of the first national MotoGP rider, Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah, in occupying 10th spot at the 2018 Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix race at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) yesterday.
While some local fans were sceptical of his ability, Hafizh acknowledged that the two elements fired his desire to race on the dry surface of the circuit to achieve historic success in his own home.
According to the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider, seeing his father crying behind the barrier fence and thinking of Adam who crashed on the Moto3 race, made him choke and this in turn sparked an extraordinary spirit to race.
“I am grateful to god for facilitating my race journey. It is quite difficult for me on the first and second day this week and aggravated by my disappointed as many fans do not believe in my capability.
“Today I took the spirits of family and Adam. When I was at the starting line-up, I saw my father behind the barrier fence ... he cried, told me to do my best. Thanks to the security guards for allowing my father to meet me and I was able to hug him before the race,” he told reporters here yesterday.
Hafizh, nicknamed ‘El Pescao’, emerged as the first rookie to get past the finish line in Sepang with a time of 40 minutes 59.291 seconds (s) despite starting the race in the last spot after struggling with a wet circuit surface during the free training session and qualifying round on Saturday.
At the same time, Hafizh said he could very well celebrate the success of emerging as the best rookie this season in Sepang if he had managed to finish a few races before this.
He said his chances of overcoming his number one competitor Franco Morbidelli from Italy representing the EG 0.0 Marc VDS team was quite slim as only one race was left after this.
“It’s quite hard for me to get the best rookie title but I have already pointed out that I am faster than all the rookies this season, only it’s just not my luck because I fell in Phillip Island, Catalunya and Austin.
“If we look back, if I did not fall, maybe today’s success is to celebrate my success as the best rookie racer in Sepang,” he said.