Zaidi started second on the grid behind pole-sitter Keminth Kubo (Japan, Yamaha), but eased to the front early in the 16-lap race. He then kept his nerve even as two other Japanese Taiga Hada (Honda) and Yuki Ito (Yamaha) scrapped for the other two podium spots to post his second win of the season. Hada finished second ahead of Ito.
Meanwhile, championship leader Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman, nursing an injury following a high-side crash during Friday's third free practice session, qualified 15th, but limped home in 10th place which earned him enough points to maintain his lead on the leaderboard with 124 points while Zaidi and Hada are level in second overall with 118, ahead of Sunday's second race.
India's Shankar Sarath Kumar achieved his objective of doing a one minute, 46-second lap, but could not make headway in the competitive 600cc field and finished a lap down in 12th spot.
In the Asia Production 250cc category, Indonesian Gerry Salim, who was expected to seal the title in the first race on Saturday, crashed twice during the warm-up lap and sat out of the race.
In his absence, Tomoyoshi Koyama (Japan) scored his first AP250 win but not before holding off Thailand's Anupab Sarmoon who eventually finished second. Indonesia's Galang Hendra Pratama came in third. Indian entry Rajiv Sethu ended up 19th.
Fakhrusy Syakirin Rostam, on a Honda, chalked up his third win of the season in the Underbone 150cc class in a tight finish after surviving close attention from Mohd Haziq Mohd Fairues (Yamaha) and Azroy Hakeem Anuar (Honda) for an all-Malaysian podium.
Rajiv clinched the title in the Honda CBR 250 (Open) category of the MMSC One-Make Championship despite finishing fifth in the support race which was won by Deepak Ravikumar.
The 10 points that Rajiv earned took his tally to 179 points, well clear of second-placed Hari Krishnan Rajagopal (145) who in turn is 39 ahead of Anish Shetty, with just one more race to be run on Sunday.
Arun Muthukrishnan took the honours in the other support race, the TVS Apache 200 (Open) where Sivanesan, who finished third behind Anand Kumar, has already clinched the title.
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
About VDC
Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.