Image: Supplied.

Australian Broc Parkes says he figured the podium would be out of reach at Sepang’s penultimate round of the 2019 Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) after experiencing a pair of close calls due to a lack of rear grip.

The Yamaha Racing Team Asean rider, who sat out of his regular duties in the Endurance World Championship (EWC) last weekend following a clash in dates, recorded a 4-5 scorecard, enabling him to hang onto the points lead with a 19-point advantage.

“Basically I couldn’t get any rear grip in the race so it was really tough,” Parkes explained. “I could tell it would be like that from the first few laps so I tried several ways to get around it. I almost highsided twice, so I figured the podium would be out of reach.

“I thought about the championship and tried to ride as best I could without crashing. In the end Azlan Shah won and picked up a lot of points, but on the last lap I tried hard and got fourth so that was good.”

The next stop on the ARRC calendar is the season finale, scheduled for November 29-1 December at Chang International Circuit in Thailand.