March 17, 2013: Zhuhai International Circuit- After narrowly missing out on the win in Round 1 by 1/200 of a second with a lap to go, Dan Kruger led Round 2 of the Pan Delta Championship from flag to flag.
Yes Yamaha’s Shi-Zhao, who is also the 2012 Superbike Champion in China, fought hard and showed Kruger his front wheel throughout the race. Following the epic battle, the 35,000 fans were on the edge of their seats watching the big screen, cheering mostly for their local Yamaha hero.
“I had set the pace in qualifying by taking pole by over a second and really controlled the pace in both race 1 and 2. I got caught up in back markers and a waving yellow flag in race 1 that gave Zhao the advantage and he got me at the line. I wasn’t going to let that happen in race 2. It was also a close race but I also had a bit more if need be kept in reserve” Kruger said.
With a light drizzle at the beginning of qualifying on Saturday and the threat of a downpour at the start of race 2 on Sunday, all 33 teams entered in the event were on standby right up to the sighting lap and prepared on a moment’s notice to change to rain tyres. In the end, it stayed dry and the race was clearly the crowd favorite for the weekend. With 33 bikes entered from all parts of the world – Australia, New Zealand, UK, Spain, Canada, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and China, The Pan Delta Series truly is an International event.
From his hospitality suite set up with food and drinks, and with top management from Kawasaki, five senior members of Motul, as well as a number of the teams other sponsors in attendance, Kruger expressed, “The weekend went very well both on and off the track. Winning on Sunday was perfect and taking the Championship lead was exactly what we had hoped would happen. Our team worked amazing together and we also had a lot of fun!”
During the Lunch break, Kruger went out and gave crowd favorite El Sammo a hand with his stunt show. Kruger took out Sammo’s stunt bike with a model on the back while Sammo did some stunts on an old scooter. They then lined up and had a drag race before Sammo went on to do his show. The crowd loved it!
Concluded Kruger, “The Kawasaki ZX10R ran perfect and we would like to thank our sponsors: Kawasaki, Motul, Hindle, Spidi, Vemar, Moto-Tron, RK, Pirelli, and Full Spectrum”
Kruger will return to Canada before testing in Japan next month at Suzuka,as well as in Zhuhai for a 2 day test. The next round of the Pan Delta Championship will be run June 14-16 in Zhuhai.
Prepared by Dan Kruger Racing/ www.dankrugerracing.com
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