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NEWS
First Aussie for Asia Talent Cup
Young Queenslander to contest MotoGP feeder class next yearQueensland's Locky Taylor has become the first ever Australian selected to compete in the Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup.
The 13-year-old Gold Coaster and multiple Australian and state dirt track champion successfully completed the 2014 selection event at the Sepang International Karting Circuit on October 27-28.
Taylor will contest the eight-round 2015 Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup after impressing renowned MotoGP talent scout and ATC Director Alberto Puig enough to be one of just nine riders selected.
A total of 71 young riders from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, China, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines were invited to contest day one of this year's selection event.
Just 33 progressed to day two after being split into six groups and given three sessions each on the tight and twisty track on race-prepared Honda Future 125 scooters, which were unfamiliar to many.
Day two saw 26 of Malaysia's best teenage racers, including the younger brother of Moto3 rider Zulfhami Khairuddin, take to the track before half were eliminated and the other half was joined by the best foreign riders from day one.
A monsoonal shower and increasing wind failed to stop lap times falling, impressing Puig and the assembled crowd including MotoGP racer Hiroshi Aoyama and riders from the 2014 Asia Talent Cup, which was won by Japan's Kaito Toba the previous Sunday.
After 40 riders were selected for the final run of the day, Taylor was the only Australian chosen among the nine selected riders.
The others are Masaki Kazuki, Ai Ogura and Ryusei Yamanaka from Japan, Gery Salim and Andi Izdihar from India, McKinley Paz from the Philippines, Sittipon Srimoontree from Thailand and Azroy Bin Anuar from Malaysia.
Fellow Aussie Tom Edwards made the reserve rider list, along with Japan's Kite Fuse, Katsuto Sano and Rei Toshima, India's Bangga Sunarya, China's Pengyuan Chen and James Mendez from the Philippines.
First run this year, the Asia Talent Cup was established by the MotoGP and Superbike World Championship organisers to provide a pathway for young, talented riders into the world of professional motorcycle sport.
This year's Asia Talent Cup was run over six rounds, some of which were held in conjunction with MotoGP rounds, at Qatar, Indonesia, Japan, China and Malaysia.
Riders compete on Honda NSR250R Moto3 machines similar to those used in the international Red Bull Rookies Cup, the direct feeder class for Moto3.
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Written byBikesales Staff
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