By Anand Philar,IANS,
Chennai : For all the hype and expectations surrounding the Indian riders, the home entrants would have to perform out of their skins to make an impact in the fourth round of the Petronas Asian Road Racing Championship for two-wheelers to be run at the Madras Motor Racing Track in Sriperumdubur near here Sunday.
From India’s perspective, the focus would be chiefly on the two Red Rooster Racing riders, Krishnan Rajini and Preetham Dev Moses, in the SuperSports 600cc class, especially since Blue Arrow Racing team’s Dilip Rogger, undoubtedly India’s best rider, was pulled out late Thursday night as his Honda machine was not race ready.
As for the other seven Indians in the fray, the outing would be more an exposure as few have the necessary experience and proven ability at the international level to secure a podium position.
Rajini and Moses, both 29, have been on the international circuit, chiefly in the Asian region, for a few seasons now, but are yet to deliver strong results on a consistent basis.
This season, the two Indians have struggled for pace in the three earlier rounds held in Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia, if one were to go by their lap timings and average race speeds. The best performance of both Rajini and Moses in the three rounds and six races so far has been a 10th place finish, but can do better if they effectively use their intimate knowledge of the track where they cut their racing teeth.
Although Red Rooster team management believes that riding on home turf here would be an advantage, it remains to be seen whether the duo will be up to speed to challenge the likes of championship leaders Chalermpol Polamai (120 points) and Decha Kraisat (118), both from Thailand.
The two Thai riders are well clear of the rest of the field in the championship standings, with 11 podium finishes between them.
The three Indian riders entered for the Underbone 115cc class race – T.K. Vishwanath, Harry Sylvester and Karthik – did not participate in the earlier rounds. Though they have topped the charts in the National championship, the competition they will encounter in the Petronas event would be of much higher level.
In fact, the competition in the Underbone class is far stiffer with as many as five riders very much in contention for the championship title.
Only one point separates two Indonesians, Fitriansyah Kete (Yamaha) and Hadiwijaya (Kawasaki) at the top with 62 and 61 points, respectively, followed by three Malaysians, Mohd Affendi Rosli (Suzuki, 54 pts), Md Iskandar Raduan (Yamaha, 52) and Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (Yamaha, 51), who at 15 years of age is the youngest competitor. Hadiwijaya, however, does not figure in the entry list.
The third class in the event that is branded as “Sidvin Indian Festival of Speed” after the Bangalore-based sponsors, is the MRF-Nations Cup open only to Honda 125cc Stunner bikes that will be run on MRF tyres.
Incidentally, the Stunner race has two Japanese riders whose absence in the SuperSports and Underbone classes is rather conspicuous. The home interest in the single-make Honda race will be on K Jagan and Harry Sylvester.
While the 3.717 Kms long track, now in its 19th year, has been spruced up and upgraded at considerable expense, the weather could yet play spoilsport.
Heavy rains Thursday night delayed the start of the scheduled practice sessions this morning as portions of the track were water-logged. If it is a wet race, then the going will not only be treacherous but also exciting.
There will be two races in each class, all scheduled for Sunday while the qualifying rounds will be held Saturday.