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It was only 35 days ago since Johann Zarco was given a chance to test the Ducati GP21 at the pre-season testing in Qatar.

Who would have thought, the 30-year-old rider, who was in limbo after his surprise departure from KTM in 2019, now leads the championship with 40 points after securing back-to-back second place at Losail International Circuit.

The Pramac Racing rider finished 1.092s behind Maverick Vinales in the first race before losing out to race-winner Fabio Quartararo on Sunday.

Not only that, the Frenchman is currently top Ducati rider, edging Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller.

“I did not expect to be leading the championship when I came here 35 days ago to start testing and learn the Ducati.

“I still have things to control better, to feel more comfortable and have more options during the race. So if I can still grow up in that way and use the full potential of the Ducati, then I can enjoy myself also at other tracks”, Zarco said.

Zarco can breathe easily now, having made one of the hardest decision in his life, to quit a factory team (KTM) to pursue a better machine that suits his riding.

“What happened two years ago is part of life. I took some decisions, and I’m pretty happy now that I’m back with the top guys.

“The first two races were a lot of fun and it was such a nice feeling. So it’s not the time to think of redemption or something like that. Just live your time and right now is this moment with Pramac and Ducati.

“What I decided two years ago, it’s done. So, happy. I cannot say I took the right decision or not. I took a decision then I did my way and thanks to Ducati I’m here,” he added.

Some people are born to race and do it naturally. Others wait for the stars to come together to realise their calling. And that is what happened to race rider – Nik Hadi.

A stockbroker who heads a foreign investment bank in Malaysia, Nik is a man that has won the 2019 championship, multiple races, and yet says that he can never perfect the start of a race, Nik’s calling came when he visited the Ducati showroom in Petaling Jaya with a friend who wanted to buy a bike. He walked out of there with a Ducati of his own, though he had never ridden a bike.

“Now looking back, I can’t believe that I actually bought a Ducati 848 when I had no intentions to,” says Nik.

“Then actually learning how to ride it in the compounds of the showroom with the sales guy as my teacher. And when the bike was eventually ready for delivery, I could not ride it back home because I had no license, so the guy who sold the bike to me, who later became a good friend, had to ride it back for me.

“And every night after that I used to ride the 848 around my neighbourhood. And I learned everything by myself, with a couple of minor mishaps along the way of course.”

Nik is also quick to admit that his bike control wouldn’t be as good as others who started riding at a much earlier age.

“I started with a superbike right away where else others would have started with smaller bikes and learned the ins and outs of a bike before eventually moving up to bigger bikes, giving them an advantage over me.

“I used to then attend track days after that with some friends, and from there got quite competitive. And we were chasing the faster racers because why not, and learned from there.”

But before that, there were plenty of rides up Genting every weekend, and there were the usual long-distance rides to Penang and such on the 848. Not exactly the most comfortable bike to go touring with, but lots of fun anyway.

On the topic of competitive racing, Nik is quick to point out that he is a fan of the Ducati brand but acknowledges that it hasn’t always been easy racing the iconic Italian brand.

“There aren’t many privateers or teams that race Ducatis, I guess that comes from a cost and parts perspective. But’s also not very competitive right out of the box, so you need to spend a lot more money to make it competitive. It is simply much easier to race the Japanese bikes than say a Ducati or a BMW.

“That was a challenge, so I did not go into the race to win, it was more of passion and interest and to challenge myself. I knew it was going to be difficult but I am a fan of the brand and wanted to challenge myself to get the bike to be competitive.

“And from a fitness perspective, that too was a challenge because I joined in 2018, and I was already 42 then and racing against much younger competition. They are like half my age. I was in it for passion more than anything else.”

On how expensive it is to race and to acquire spare parts for an Italian bike that is racing competitively, Nik says, “Naza does carry quite a good parts inventory, in fact, I was surprised to learn that Naza has a lot of parts when I was trying to source some from overseas. So that was impressive. You do have to source some parts online if you need something quick though.”

But Nik did not always race a Ducati though.

“For my first race, I actually competed with my friend’s BMW S1000RR because my bike was not ready as yet. I ended up crashing that bike quite badly, it was nice but very different in character. But I also did not spend time to properly tune the bike to my liking, so it could have been different. But that was the only time I did not race a Ducati Panigale R.”

When asked how different it was racing a BMW as compared to racing a Panigale, Nik went into the finer details – “The engine configuration is the main difference between the two bikes – the BMW is an inline-4 where else the Ducati is an L2. This naturally makes the BMW wider around the tank and hence feels bigger underneath you and makes cornering different. It is a high-revving engine so that means more high-end power.

 

“The Ducati is slimmer and the two have completely different cornering characteristics. The Panigale R has more low-end torque and hence feels more powerful out of a corner. But I always lose out on top-end power. In corners, specifically, turn 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, I gain an advantage because of the torque and cornering character, so there are pros and cons, I like to have a balance of both. The Panigale feels small, so it makes turning easy.”

 

For his racing, Nik does not have any sponsors so he says he only spends on what is important. So we asked what is important to him, he explains, “So my bike is considered almost standard, I didn’t touch the engine, just full exhaust and mapping. I spent on the chassis, mainly the suspension set up. I got the K-TEC set for that which I really love.”

“So for the spending part I have limited resources so I prefer to spend on the handling part to make it really good, so whatever I can do to extract a bit more power, I worked on the radiator which I think is really important to cool the bike. So that and the full exhaust kit and the mapping. That is what I spent on which I think is necessary if you have limited funding.”

“The challenge with the Ducati is that it is tricky to do up even if you have the funds to do it. Simply because there is no one in Malaysia to do up the bike. You can rebuild the engine but who’s going to do that for you? That’s the challenge in Malaysia.”

 

In a set of questions sent to Nik via email, he mentioned that he was always a slow starter. We thought it odd that the 2019 MSBK Champion was a slow starter, so prodded him to explain how he makes up for the lost ground after a slow start.

“In all honesty, I stalled the bike at the race start a few times, and since then I have been careful. I will normally qualify in the middle somewhere, usually 7th or 8th place. But at the start of the race, I end up being last or second last. I then have to do a lot of hard work to get back up again. That is my main weakness, but I think it is all in my mind and I know I have to work on it.

“My bike doesn’t have launch control which other bikes have, and I have stalled a few times now. It makes me even nervous. But I then become more aggressive.”

But if there is not much in terms of funding, and a rider is still able to become a champion despite consistently qualifying mid-field, we think that if there is any indication of raw talent, Nik is one talented racer.

But racing is not the only two-wheeled fun he has.

“It’s my passion so I do a lot of things with two-wheels, enduro riding being one of them. So I go trail riding with friends, fast trails and technical trails though I prefer fast trails. I do mountain biking as well, and sometimes road cycling as well. I do it more for fitness and it helps me keep sharp in terms of bike control.”

The worst memory Nik has had is a crash at turn 3 at Sepang circuit, a high-speed high side.

“It was a very wet race and I was doing about 180km/h at Turn 3. It was my first ever race and I was on my friends BMW and I did not have any experience. The bike was not set up for rain though I had rain tyres on. We did not change the setting so the bike was at its most aggressive setup. We also did not have a pit board, which I regret because my team could have communicated with me to slow down because I was already leading my group by quite a gap with just 3 laps to go.

“In fact, I was already overtaking riders in the faster categories, so I was going really fast. I was doing timing that I was quite proud of especially for a first-timer. So with 3 laps to go, I overtook another rider but he was from the faster group. I guess he was shocked that someone overtook him so he rode more aggressively to overtake me. And I did not know that he was from a different group, so I rode faster than I should even though I did not need to. And that’s when the accident happened because I was more aggressive on the throttle and the bike was set up for a dry race with maximum power.

“I remember jumping off the seat and banging my head on the windscreen then nothing. I woke up at the medical centre then lost consciousness again, and woke up in the ambulance heading to the Putrajaya Medical Centre.”

So why is he not racing a BMW if the bike gave him that much confidence especially in the wet?

“It’s not so much of wanting to win per-say, it is more about passion for me. Passion for the brand. Maybe if I would have spent more time on the BMW, I would have continued with it, but it is more about passion for me.”

Nik’s wish list:
1. Our beloved country getting back on the right track.
2. Rossi winning another championship.
3. Riding with my son.

Any advice for upcoming racers?
Always practice and have lots of patience.

Any advice for competitors?
Be kind to your veteran competitor.

Nik would like to extend a special thanks to:

  • SBK Motorsports
  • Bike Art
  • Chia Motor PJ (Ktech)
  • Horizon Racing Team
  • PT Jatt

Know anyone who is an Interesting Biker? Email us at info@bikesrepublic.com and we will be happy to feature him or her.

Fabio Quartararo secured his first win of 2021 after overcoming ninth place at the Losail International Circuit.

The Frenchman showed a similar performance to that of his team-mate, Maverick Vinales, who won the opening round last weekend.

The former Petronas Sepang Racing Team (SRT) rider crosses the finish line ahead of fellow countrymen and Pramac (Ducati) Racing rider Johann Zarco.

Meanwhile, MotoGP rookie Jorge Martin, leading the pack until the final stage of the race, clinched his maiden premier class podium at 3rd.

“I feel like this win gives me much more confidence than the wins from last year as I came from far back.

“In the test, it was difficult and I say woah, because the Ducati are fast in the straight and in the pace and it would be difficult to beat them.

The 21-year-old rider admitted that he was worried when Ducati dominated the qualifying session on both weekends with incredible speed.

However, Quartararo managed to play the YZR-M1 strengths, coming into every turn faster than their rivals.

“Felt so good with the bike. Also turn 8, 9,10 and 15, so it is good that we have great confidence on the front, because all the other riders are riding so fast but sometimes you make an overtake and you don’t know what is going to happen later.

“You know, you feel the front moving, but that’s something we didn’t have last year. I was just going into the corner with no feeling and then just losing the front.

“But with this bike, I felt like I have a little bit more confidence on the front and I feel much more the limit. In the end, this is what I need to go fast. We have it now in Qatar and I’m crossing the finger to have it in all the races,” he added.

MotoGP will resume on April 18 at Portimao, Portugal, a brand new track that hosted the final round of last season MotoGP.

After starting at the front-row just one week ago, Valentino Rossi will start the second round of Qatar GP at P21.

The 42-year-old Petronas Sepang Racing Team (PSRT) rider endured a miserable Q1 at Losail International Circuit, which will see him start the second round just ahead of the last spot, Lorenzo Savadori.

Last week, rear tyre trouble saw the Italian drop to twelfth place after starting the race at P4.

In search of a solution seems to backfired the PSRT rider as he only managed to clocked 1m 54.881s, far from his 1m 53.114s that he set a week earlier.

“It was very difficult today because we struggled a lot with the rear tyre. Compared to last week we tried to modify the setting and also some of the electronics, but I lost some performance in qualifying and I was not fast enough.

“We also haven’t been able to improve and we are putting too much stress on the rear tyre,” explained Rossi.

Meanwhile, MotoGP rookie and Pramac Racing rider Jorge Martin will lead the pack at P1, followed by his team-mate, Johann Zarco, at P2.

Last week winner, Maverick Vinales, completes the front row at P3.

Japan has become the first country outside of India to get the CB350 H’Ness with the retro design motorcycle rename GB350.

Apart from the name change, the GB350 does comes with some styling changes however, it is still the same CB350 H’Ness that was firstly introduced in India.

The GB350 comes with a full LED setup, a combination of analogue/digital instrument and the latest Honda Selectable Torque Control (HSTC).

The motorcycle is packed with the same single-cylinder 348cc air-cooled engine that is capable to produce a solid 20.7hp @ 5,500rpm and 30Nm @ 3,000rpm while matted to a 5-speed gearbox.

The bike also gets a standard telescopic fork at the front and twin (preload adjustable) shock absorbers at the rear.

However, the GB350 received dual-channel ABS for the Japanese market and priced at JPY550,000 (RM20,600).

“You have a lot of riders who are more clean and ride with a lot of respect for the opponents.

“You have some other riders like Binder, who ride a lot harder and don’t care about the rival,” said the multiple MotoGP world champion, Valentino Rossi, following a clash with Brad Binder during the season opener last weekend.

Binder slightly hit the Petronas Sepang Racing Team (SRT) rider in Qatar at Turn 1.

The 42-year-old rider then shares his opinion regarding the respect that current MotoGP riders have for their rivals this past few years.

“For me, it doesn’t depend very much on the position, but it depends very much on the different riders.

“Maybe, in this case, the word respect is too big, but it’s difficult to understand the limit because usually in the past sometimes you touch another rider, but you didn’t try to touch.

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