By Anand Philar,IANS,
Chennai : Indian motorcyclists were given riding lessons as Thailand’s Decha Kraisat (SuperSports 600cc) and Indonesia’s Hokky Krisdianto (Underbone 115cc) took pole positions in their respective classes in the Petronas Asia Road Racing Championship here Saturday.
The difference in levels of riding was no more apparent than in the Underbone class where all the three Indians – T.K. Vishwanath, Harry Sylvester and Karthik – occupied positions just above the last placed P.D. Sigit of Indonesia on the 23-rider grid for Sunday’s double-header.
In the 600cc class, Krishnan Rajini of Red Rooster Racing team qualified seventh over two seconds off the pace, team-mate Preetham Dev Moses was ninth fastest, four seconds behind Kraisat.
Two other Indians, Vivek Pillai (1:53.931) and R. Deepak (1:54.319), also made it to Sunday’s SuperSports races, but from the back of the grid after qualifying 12th and 13th, respectively while compatriots, Emmanuel Jebaraj (1:55.246) of Ten10 Racing team and Alisha Abdullah (2:07.785) of Blue Arrow Racing, failed to qualify.
But the stewards have rather generously allowed Alisha and Jebaraj, as also to Hong Kong-China’s Chui Wai Kwong, who also failed to qualify, to start the race on the morrow on the condition that they return to the pit if lapped.
The 29-year old Kraisat, on a Yamaha, who clocked one minute, 45.720 seconds in the first qualifying session last evening, brought it down to 1:45.619 in the second outing this afternoon to top the time charts.
In sharp contrast, both Rajini and Moses, though improved upon their first qualifying session timing, were still to come to grips with their respective Yamaha bikes.
Rajini clocked 1:47.396 today as against Friday’s 1:48.137 while Moses had a 1:49.988 this afternoon to his first qualifying session timing of 1:50.709.
In the Underbone qualifying session, Krisdianto was way ahead of the rest with a timing of 2:02.324 in the second qualifying as compared to his 2:03.340 Friday.
With the weather staying dry, a drop in timings was to be expected. Also the riders exuded more confidence having learnt the intricacies of the 3.717 Kms track with its 10 major turns that demands for high level of technique.
In the event, the top riders showcased their skills in attacking the corners while on the straight, their superior speed was fairly apparent as compared to the Indian challengers.
However, going by the previous three rounds, a pole position is no guarantee for victory, especially on the MMRT Track here that presents quite a few overtaking opportunities.