Asia Road Racing: Rajiv snaps maiden points outside India

IDEMITSU Honda Racing India rider Rajiv Sethu snapped his first international points in the 2018 Asia Road Racing Championship here Saturday.

Starting from a far 20th on the Buriram grid, Rajiv worked his way and finished 13th, thereby scoring his first ever point outside Indian soil in Asia Road Racing Championship.

Rajiv clocked his lap time of 1:55:800 with a top speed of 191 kilometers per hour.

In the Super Sport 600CC race one, rider Taiga Hada added two points to team's kitty, while rookie Anish Shetty too climbed three spots in a closely contested Asia Production 250 CC class.

With the battle reaching its peak in the finale at the Chang International Circuit, the AP 250 CC qualifier, Sethu, set the tone of the battle with 22 of the 27 riders having gap of just three seconds.

Entering the AP 250 qualifier, the 20-year-old Sethu pushed hard to shave off 1.8 seconds over his practise runs but could qualify 20th on the grid.

Shetty too gained 3.4 seconds off from his FP1 time to secure 26th spot on the grid.

But the duo entered the race 1 with positivity and climbed up the ranks.

The afternoon AP 250 Race 1 saw the battle start from the word go and ended only at the chequered flag.

In lap 1 itself, the riders separated into two batches and later on, the first batch too broke up in two clusters.

The fight continued till the last turn of the 10 lap race with Indonesian rider duo of Rafid Topan Sucipto and Awhin Sanjaya finishing top two, followed by Muklada Sarapuech of the hosts country.

Satisfied with the result, Rajiv said: "The competition was really tight but I made a good start. My target was to stick to my position and make my move on the last lap. I overtook two riders in the last lap. After this, I could see a chance of climbing another two spots but the crash possibility was very high.

"So I took a call to guard my position and secure points for India. On Sunday, I want to add more points and finish better in top 15 once again."
"The set-up which we finalised for the qualifier didn't turn out to be the right one. I missed a big opportunity in the qualifier. Starting from 27th on the grid, I challenged myself and finished three positions up at 23rd. In Sunday's race, my aim will be to make a good start and finish in top 18."