Billy Van Eerde takes pole and two victories at Sepang
Billy Van Eerde mastered the tricky 15-turn 5.54km Sepang Circuit to take pole position before then converting that into two incredibly hard fought race victories in the KTM RC Cup round staged in Malaysia last weekend.
Billy took pole position with a 2m35.220 scorcher and then went on to score race one victory over China’s Zhou Shengjunjie by a whisker, the margin a scant 0.098 of a second at the chequered flag.
The second bout saw Billy hold off young Malaysian star Muhamad Adam Norrodin for victory and went quicker than his pole time along the way, his best of 2m35.009 coming on the final lap.
This was the fifth round of the series that was staged in conjunction with the 2017 Pirelli Malaysia Superbike Championship however Billy had only completed the final couple of rounds after joining the series in August, where he took a race victory (Link) on his international debut!
Billy Van Eerde
“It was an awesome weekend in Sepang, the weather was on and off but luckily most of the time we rode it was dry. Race one it was very patchy, with lots of corners completely wet. One of the Chinese riders made a bit of a gap at the front but towards the end of the race I managed to pull back the gap and take the win!
“Race 2 was perfect conditions and a crazy race between 7 or 8 of us all the way to the finish. It came down to the last corner and saw a gap and took it and made it to the line in front. It was a perfect way to end the year. Now it’s time to rain hard and prepare for next years racing.”
Billy will be racking up the frequent flyer miles in 2018 as the young gun is set to line up not only in the 2018 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup (Link), but will also contest the 2018 Asia Talent Cup (Link). Billy was, and still is, a young star of the Australian Dirt Track scene before making his transition to road racing this year, which saw him take out the 2017 ASBK Australian Supersport 300 Championship (Link).
