■Race Name: "All Japan Road Race Championship Round 3" "2019 MFJ Cup JP250 Championship Round 2"
■Race Date: May 25th (Sat), 26th (Sun), 2019
■Race Venue: Miyagi Prefecture Sportsland SUGO
■ Rider / Race Results
All Japan J-GP2 Class
#14 Keito Abe/Qualifying Result: 8th Final Result: 6th
MFJ CUP JP250
#17 Maiki Abe/Qualifying Result: 21st Final Result: Finished
Keito Abe participated in "All Japan Road Race Championship Round 3" held at Sportsland SUGO! Also, Maiki Abe participated in the co-hosted “2019 MFJ Cup JP250 Championship Round 2!” Abe Keito just came back from injury.
Keito Abe was in good condition without the effects of the injury. However, he did not reached the targeted time, and the best time for qualifying was 8th with 1:31,798.
In the final race, the pace gradually increased, and the best time was 1:31,148 marking a better time than qualifying. and finally finished the race in 6th place.
Maiki Abe has recovered from a machine failure at the time of the previous Motegi Road Race and is getting on well. The best time was renewed and got 21st place with 1:47,755.
However, in the final, he hit the front opponent and fell but he was able to finish the race with disappointment. The best time of the final was 1:48,811.
It was a race that both riders make us feel the steady growth!
The next race will be held on June 22 (Saturday) and 23 (Sun) at Tsukuba Circuit in Ibaraki Prefecture, with the 4th round of the All Japan Road Race Championship, in which Keito Abe will participate in the 2019 MFJ Cup JP250 Championship Maiki Abe will participate in the 3rd round of the championship!
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Qualifying Result: 8th Final Result: 6th Best Time: 1:31,148
Qualifying Result: 21nd Final Result: Finished Best Time: 1:48,811 seconds
Keito Abe's Comments
In the first race, I have forced to leave the race due to injury during training.
I apologize for the worry and inconvenience.
In my practice on Friday, I tried various things, such as changing the way of riding and bring braking to the end.
I was able to update the best time a little when I got what I tried, and I felt good.
In the qualifying session, the temperature was very high and the grip on the tires was very good.
I was able to renew my best time from the first half of qualifying. The result was 1:31,798 starting from the 8th.
The final race was held under the heat temperature of over 30-degrees.
As this tire was through from the qualifying to the final, so I was unsure if I could able to finish the race.
The start was successful and I was able to get on the 5th place. However, I could not raise my position from the beginning, and I dropped to the original position. After that, I managed to raise one position, but in the second half of the race, I dropped my position again. After that, I was able to line up at the horseback corner on the final lap, but I couldn't get in front and I just got the checkered flag...
The result was 6th place and the time was 1:31,148.
I was able to get my target on the first half which is 31 seconds, but I was very disappointed that I was not able to reach 30 seconds.
The point this time is that I could not raise my position from the beginning, so I would like to race thinking about how to raise my position and strive more from the beginning.
Lastly, I thank everyone in the team, everyone who supported me, everyone who cheered for me. Thank you for your support in this hot weather.
Thank you very much, see you in the next race at Tsukuba.
Maiki Abe comments
This time, it has become possible to slightly bend the S-curve that was not made fully last time, the time was also getting faster little by little, but I still couldn't fully turn around at the 3rd corner, I thought it would be nice if I could get a little better in the race, but when it started the race, I hit the front opponent at the 4th corner of the 1st lap, and I fell over.
I want to be able to fully turn on the 3rd corner before the next race, and also to be able to catch up the front riders earlier.
Coach Mitsuo Abe Comments
This time's participation are Keito Abe of All Japan J-GP2 and Maiki Abe of MFJCUP JP250.
Keito also recovered from his injury, and although he had a fall on a Special Sports Run on Friday, he updated his personal best time and was not affected by the injury.
Saturday's qualifying round was a battle aiming for 31 seconds in the first half.
He made sure to improve his time, but finished at 1:31,798 and became the 8th place.
In the final race of 26th, he made a good start and came back with the 5th position in the first lap, but his pace did not improve and dropped his position to 8th.
However, his position raised from around the 5th lap and he started tracking the 3 previous opponents while updating his own best time.
He approached immediately after the midfield 3 opponents, and in the second half he developed a fierce battle with Tokudome and was able to pass through, but he finished the race at 6th after Tokudome. However, in the race that advanced 1:31,1 step close to 1:30,000 in the race, one step forward, Keito reminded that the day when potential could be demonstrated was near.
On the other hand, Maiki had qualifying and final on Saturday of the 25th. In Sports Run on Friday, although it entered in 1min 49sec. but it did not get into 18sec. of SUGO last time and it was a painful beginning. However, qualifying round was 21st place with 47 seconds of the self best time.
The race has a good start, but he got high side at the 4th corner and crashed into the previous opponent, which made a rapidly speed down. He fell down and forced to pit stop, but he started again and run all the way to the end. Although I felt regrettable, I hope that this will be a good experience for the future. Because we are planning to race 18 races this year.
Once again, the 15-year-old Combination has a good experience and is looking forward to future growth.
Thank you for your support.
Photo by Komai Toshiyuki & Ishizaki Nobuki
