By Anand Philar,IANS,
Chennai : Indian bikers had a mixed outing with Krishnan Rajini and Preetham Dev Moses clocking sixth and eighth fastest in the first qualifying session (timed free practice) in the SuperSports 600cc class at the Petronas Asian Road Racing Championship, here Friday.
With dry weather prevailing following heavy overnight rains, Rajini and Moses, both representing team Red Rooster Racing, and on a Yamaha, enjoyed a good outing, though they were well below the pace of the front runners.
However, other Indians fared rather poorly with T.K. Vishwanath finishing 18th, Harry Sylvester 21st and Karthik 22nd in the Underbone 115cc class qualifying session.
While Rajini clocked a best lap of one minute, 48.137 seconds, Moses had 1:50.709 with average speeds of 123.5 kmph and 120.6 kmph, respectively.
Their timings did not compare well those of the top three – Decha Kaisat of Malaysia (1:45.720), Md Zamri Baba of Malaysia (1:46.604) and championship leader Chalermpol Polamai of Thailand (1:47.294).
Speaking to IANS after the qualifying session, Rajini said he was not too happy with the handling and the set-up of his bike.
“I did not do well in the practice sessions, but was better in the qualifying run. We got the bikes only yesterday and so, we haven’t had much track time. Hopefully, I will be able to clock better timing tomorrow,” he said.
Moses said much the same, but admitted that the pace was missing, especially exiting corners. He was also rather tentative with the crash in the Japan round still fresh in his mind.
“This is just our second year and I would say that we do not have much experience in setting up the bikes, but we are learning all the time. We had to put the bike together after my crash in Japan and I am not very happy with the handling. We will work on the bike tonight and I am hoping that we will be able to meet our target of a top-five finish,” he said.
The other Indian in the class, Alisha Abdullah, finished 15th and last with a timing of 2:07.785 while Emmanuel Jebaraj of Ten10 Racing did not start the qualifying session as his bike was not ready following a crash in the afternoon’s free practice session.
Ten10 Racing’s CEO Rajeev Raju said: “Jebaraj is fine except for some pain in the shoulders and a graze on the knee. The bike, fortunately, did not suffer much damage, but we could not get it ready before the pitlane closed for the qualifying session. Of course, we still have another qualifying session tomorrow and we hope to do well then.”
The results (first qualifying session):
SuperSports 600cc: 1. Decha Kraisat (Thailand, Yamaha) (:45.720); 2. Md Zambri Baba (Malaysia, Yamaha) (1:46.604); 3. Chalempol Plamai (Thailand, Yamaha) (1:47.294); 6. Krishnan Rajini (India, Yamaha) (1:48.137); 8. Preetham Dev Moses (India, Yamaha) (1:50.709).
Underbone 115cc: 1. Hocky Krisdianto (Indonesia, Yamaha) (2:03.340); 2. Mohd Affendi Rosli (Malaysia, Suzuki) (2:03.600); 3. Worawut Phuttho (Thailand, 2:03.622).