Chennai's Rajiv Sethu and Bengaluru's Anish Damodara Shetty will be the cynosure of all eyes in the fourth round of FIM Asian Road Racing Championship, to be held at Sriperumbudur near here from August 3 to 5.
Both represent Honda Racing India in the Asia Production 250cc class.
The 24-year-old Shetty, in his debut ARRC season, managed to pick up two points by finishing 15th in both the races in Australia while 20-year old Sethu is still looking for his first points in his second season.
Shetty is upbeat about his and the team's chances in the weekend and said he had trained for a couple of weeks.
"I trained for two weeks at the Honda Ten10 Racing Academy and am confident of doing well. The aim is to win," he told PTI.
The Bengaluru rider said the competition at the Asian level is tough but he hoped to use the experience gained in the first three rounds and do well in the home race.
"After the morale booster of earning my first points in Australia, Japan round was a tough one.
For me, the biggest challenge was to unlearn my existing riding style and develop the new style.But with the complete backing of Honda Racing team, I have improved my race craft and also worked on my mental fitness," Shetty said.
Sethu, who missed the previous round due to injury, is confident of a good show in the home race and said he was aiming for a win.
"With back to back wins in National Championship, rigorous training with Honda Racing and global exposure of racing in Thai Talent Cup, I am entering Chennai with confidence. Im now better adapted to the new bike (CBR 250RR)."
Indonesian Rheza Danica Ahrens has dominated the class with four consecutive wins in six races.
The refurbished track would witness some top-drawer action as the cream of two-wheeler racing talent in the region would be taking part.
A bunch of seasoned campaigners will be taking part in SuperSport 600cc, Asia Production 250cc and the Underbone 150cc categories, alongside two support events, the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (CBR 250, Open) organised by MMSC and the TVS One-Make Championship (Open, Apache R310).
Ron Hogg, Director, Two Wheels Motor Racing, the promoters of ARRC, said he was amazed at the new infrastructure made available for this weekends races and the progress made by the Madras Motor Sports Club.
On the track, the spotlight will be on the premier SuperSport 600cc category that has familiar faces including Anthony West (Australia), Decha Kraisart (Thailand), Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman (Malaysia) and Tomoyoshi Koyama (Japan).
Malaysians Md Helmi Azman (94) and Md Izzat Zaidi (93) are locked in a fierce battle in the Underbone 150cc category which attracts the most number of entries and dishes out nail-biting finishes.
Honda's Japanese rider Taiga Hada has nine points in the SuperSport 600 class.
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