Indians fail to make a mark once again in ASEAN Cup

Indian motorcyclists failed to make a mark even as hosts Indonesia maintained their domination in the 11th Yamaha ASEAN Cup race 2014 which ended at the Sentul International Circuit here today.
The four Indians in the fray -- all from Chennai -- brought up rear positions in the final races today though they had produced a creditable show in the qualification of the one-make championships yesterday.
There were expectations from the 25-year-old Jagan Kumar in ST 150 class, who started fourth at the grid today, but he crashed out in final Race 1 after completing his fifth lap and then ended 13th in the final Race 2 with a total time of 23:36.509 in 12 laps.

His team-mate Deepak Ravikumar, who started at eighth at the grid, did better as he finished 10th and 12th in Race 1 and Race 2 respectively. The third in fray in the same class, Padmanabhan crashed out of Race 1 in the first lap while he did not start in Race 2.
In the ST 250 class, Rajini Krishnan, who got a new bike today after his vehicle developed problems in the Electric Control Unit in the qualifications yesterday, started 17th and last at the grid and ended the final race at 12th with a total time of 21:37.660 in 12 laps.

Two-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo of Spain was to start at the back of the grid in the ST 250 class just beside Rajini but he did not turn up for the final race.

The 2010 and 2012 MotoGP Championships winner, a Yamaha Factory team member, took part in the morning warm-up session and drove a few laps before making a brief address to the packed crowd sitting at the grandstand, who cheered him wildly, during the opening ceremony.
Hosts Indonesia made a clean sweep in the ST 250 class with the three podium places going their way. They also made it 1-2-3 in the Race 1 of ST 150 class but Thailand riders grabbed first and third positions in the Race 2.

In MT (manual transmission) class, Malaysia took the first position in final Race 1 while Thailand bagged the top place in Race 2. None from India took part in MT class.