Road Racing: India

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Asia Road Racing

Rajiv in top-10

Sabi Hussain, April 28, 2019: The Times of India

It was a tale of contrasting finishes for the Indian riders competing in the Race 1 of the second round of the Asia Road Racing Championship (AP 250 Class) here on Saturday. Sunday will see the Race 2 of the second ARRC round in the same AP 250 Class.

Honda Racing India’s experienced rider, Rajiv Sethu, started in the 12th position on the grid, gained as many as six places within the first lap itself to reach sixth spot, but then dropped down to 10th to finish his race in that position. Nonetheless, the 10th-place finish was Rajiv’s best-ever in his three seasons in the ARRC and second with the Honda team. On the other hand, his teammate, 18-year-old Chandrasekaran Senthil, started off on a poor note. He trailed the pack at the bottom in the 24th position in the first lap, got slowed down by a fellow competitor and then gained places lap-by-lap to eventually finish in the 17th position. While Rajiv clocked the fastest lap timing of 2:10.207s, Senthil recorded 2:12.459s for his fastest lap. The challenging Bend Motorsport Park near the South Australia’s capital city of Adelaide provided a perfect setting for the riders to go full throttle, with the sun shining bright and winds stopping by. The dry track meant the riders had the license to put their speed demons in a beast mode. And that’s what the two Indian Honda racers decided to do, with contrasting luck.

Rajiv read the conditions better and had a back-andforth race with Irfan Ardiansyah, Muzakkir Mohamed and Nazirul Bahauddin. He was not deterred even when his bike’s handle bar got stuck with Ardiansyah in the second lap, and finally settled for 10th spot.

The 21-year-old Chennai rider was visibly happy with his performance, but looked to strive for further glory. “It feels great to attain first-ever top-10 finish. I will say I had a good race, but could have finished higher in the pecking order. That handle bar incident pegged me back, it was difficult to recover from that lap. Still I was able to maintain consistency afterwards. I am improving day-by-day, with the experience and feeling of competing in the ARRC getting better,” Rajiv said.

For Senthil, it was relatively an encouraging result, considering it is his first ARRC season and that he had started the race in the 18th position on the grid. Once he dropped down to the last position, it seemed the Chennai racer wouldn’t be able to recover. But he held his nerve and went on to find his way among the top-20. Indonesia’s Fadly Andy Muhammad won the Race 1 with a fastest lap timing of 2:07.249s, followed by Japan's Iyoshi Aiki with 2:07.655s and Thailand's Sarapuech Muklada at 2:07.509s.

Rajiv no. 12; Senthil crashes out

Sabi Hussain, April 29, 2019: The Times of India

After top-10 high, Rajiv settles for 12th position; Senthil crashes out

Adelaide:

India’s Rajiv Sethu couldn’t repeat his Race 1 performance on the concluding day of the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) on Sunday as the Honda Racing team’s rider managed a 12th-place finish in the Race 2 of the ARRC’s second round at the Bend Motorsport Park.

Another Honda India rider, Chandrasekaran Senthil, opted out in the first lap itself of the 10-lap race after his Honda CBR 250CC developed a technical snag as he headed back to his pit lane. The race was run in the ‘Asia production 250 class’. During the Race 1, Rajiv had produced his ARRC’s career best-ever performance, recording a 10th-place finish. Senthil, too, had a decent outing with a 17th-place finish. However, the luck didn’t favour the two Indian superbikers on a cloudy and cold Sunday morning.

Rajiv, who started in the 12th position on the grid, immediately dropped down to the 15th position but made recovery in the third lap to rise up to the 11th position. He did well to overtake Viet Nam Coe and Muhammad Faerozi Toreqottullah to close in on another top-10 finish. Rajiv was able to maintain his 11th spot till the eighth lap before conceding the lead to Toreqottullah to finish 12th. “The start was good for me. The plan was to stay calm, wait for the opportunity to move to the front and then plan accordingly. It was disappointing that I couldn’t finish in the front batch. But the good part was that I recorded my fastest lap time in the ARRC,” Rajiv said.