INDIA in F1

Tag: Asia Road Racing Championship

  • Grand double for Aussie star Anthony West

    Grand double for Aussie star Anthony West

    Anthony West on way to scoring a double in the ARRC at MMRT on Sunday. Photo by Anand Philar

    Chennai, 5 Aug 2018: Anthony West’s hot form continued as he scored a lights-to-flag victory, his second of the weekend, while destroying the premier SuperSport 600cc field to stamp his class and authority on the fourth round of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship which concluded at the MMRT, here on Sunday.

    Such was 37-year old West’s supremacy today that he won by over seven seconds while recording his fourth win of the season which put him in line for his maiden ARRC title. While West cruised to victory untroubled and unchallenged on his Yamaha, behind him Tomoyoshi Koyoma (MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda), a former MotoGP rider, won a thrilling scrap with fellow-Japanese, the 19-year old Taiga Hada (Idemitsu Honda Racing India), to grab the second spot. For Hada, who became an instant favourite with the large crowd, it was his second podium of the weekend.

    Rafid Topan Sucipto (Yamaha) and Andy Muhammad Fadly (Kawasaki) delivered a 1-2 for Indonesia in the Asia Production 250cc race ahead of Thailand’s Anupab Sarmoon (Yamaha) in a near photo-finish with barely three-tenth of a second separating the trio.

    The two Indian riders in this category, Rajiv Sethu and Anish Damodara Shetty, it was a disappointing finish as they rode in 16th and 19th, thus out of points.

    Among the most notable podium finishers of the day was 14-year old Australian boy Travis Hall who fought his way to third place, his first podium of the season, in the second race of the highly competitive Underbone 150cc class while Malaysians Ahmad Fazli Sham and Md. Helmi Azman took the top two positions. Incidentally, championship leader in this category Indonesian Rheza Danica Ahrens, who had notched five wins in a row, finished a distant 17th following a crash early in the race.

    Bengaluru’s Abhishek Vasudev and Aravind Balasubramaniam (Chennai) shared the honours in the two Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup races. However, in the championship stakes, Coimbatore’s Senthil Kumar, with two second-place finishes, moved to the top of the leaderboard with 99 points, ahead of Vasudev (88) and Anish Shetty (86) who sat out both the races due to injury.

    The TVS One-Make Championship (Apache RR310) double-header dished out close races as Vivek Pillai and PM Soorya, both from Chennai, won one apiece. The victory helped Pillai (94 points) close in on championship leader Deepak Ravikumar (98), who finished second and fifth in the two races, Soorya managed to move up to mid-table with a tally of 33.

    The results:

    SuperSport 600cc (Race-2, 16 laps): 1. Anthony West (Australia, Webike Kazuchi Racing, Yamaha) (27mins, 10.157secs); 2. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Japan, Musashi Boon Siew Honda Racing) (27:17.240); 3. Taiga Hada (Japan, Idemitsu Honda Racing India) (27:17.568).

    Asia Production 250cc (Race-2, 12 laps): 1. Rafid Topan Sucipto (Indonesia, Yamalube KYT TJM WR Super Battery) (22:00:544); 2. Andy Muhammad Fadly (Indonesia, Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki Racing) (22:00.686); 3. Anupab Sarmoon (Thailand, Yamaha Thailand Racing Team) (22:00.830).

    Underbone 150cc (Race-2): 1. Ahmad Fazli Sham (Malaysia, Onexox TKKR Racing) (18:59.247); 2. Md. Helmi Azman (Malaysia, SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing) (18:59.355); 3. Travis Hall (Australia, SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing Team) (19:03.008).

    Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (CBR 250) organised by MMSC (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Abhishek Vasudev (Bengaluru) (12:18.230); 2. Senthil Kumar (Coimbatore) (12:18.792); 3. Aravind Balasubramaniam (Chennai) (12:18.891). Race 2 (8 laps): Aravind Balasubramaniam (Chennai) (16:31.817); 2. Senthil Kumar (Coimbatore) (16:32.049); 3. Amit Richard Topno (Ranchi) (16:33.190).

    TVS One-Make Championship (Apache RR310) – Race 1 (6 laps): 1. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (13:04.471); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai) (13:06.967); 3. Peddu Sriharsha (Hyderabad) (13:06.968). Race 2 (8 laps): 1. PM Soorya (Chennai) (16:17.261); 2. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (16:17.821); 3. Yashas RL (Bengaluru) (16:17.926).

  • Team Honda Racing India’s Hada scores 9 points in Japan, ARRC; Anish Shetty and Rajiv finish in Top 25

    Team Honda Racing India’s Hada scores 9 points in Japan, ARRC; Anish Shetty and Rajiv finish in Top 25

    Anish Shetty…a tough debut at Suzuka

    Suzuka, 03 June 2018: The Sunday finale race of round 3 of Asia Road Racing Championship 2018 (ARRC) at Japan’s legendary Suzuka circuit was a mixed bag for IDEMITSU Honda Racing India team by T.Pro Ten 10 Racing. The team’s solo entry in Supersport 600cc class, Taiga Hada won nine points in the two races of Japan round. Meanwhile, the Indian duo of Rajiv Sethu and Anish Shetty maintained their rhythm and closed in the top 25 for race 2 as well.

    Honda 2Wheeler India team’s third rider, 19-year old Japanese rider Taiga Hada finished 11th which is one improvement over his 12th finish yesterday. Overall, Hada gained nine points in the Suzuka round, taking his total points tally to 29 in three rounds.

    In the Race 2 of Asia Production 250cc class, Indonesia’s Honda rider Rheza Danica Ahrens starting from the pole position continued to build on his lead. The race, which saw as many as five crashes, turned out to be a highly competitive one with as many as seven riders having less than one second gap.

    Rajiv Sethu…..picking up pace

    Still learning the ropes of international racing as part of the debutant Honda Racing India team, rookie Anish Shetty and Rajiv Sethu consistently picked up pace and completed the 8-lap race in top 25 of 33 riders. Still recovering from his wrist injury and less lap practice due to crash in practice 1, Rajiv Sethu gained seven positions to finish at 24th. Anish, despite experiencing the Suzuka track for the first time ever, worked his way up to 25th, gaining five positions.

    Sharing overview of the Indian team’s performance in Japan round,  Prabhu Nagaraj, Vice President – Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd said: “After the warm up today morning, our boys had entered the race with a positive frame of mind. Despite riding a completely new machine for him (CBR 250RR) and first time riding in the tough Suzuka track, Anish has consistently improved his time daily. We have high hopes for Rajiv and look forward to better performance as he recovers fully. Our Indian riders maintained rhythm and finished in top 25 in Japan round. With the national championship starting next weekend, our boys will have more practice before the next Chennai round of ARRC. We want to ride on the home advantage.”

    Anish Shetty said: “Japan was a tough one for me. I started on a good note but couldn’t keep up the pace in second half. I’m now better adapted to the new bike (CBR 250RR) and this is where I feel that the next round will be critical. With more laps under the belt, I look forward to the home advantage in Chennai. For me, the countdown starts today.”

    Rajiv Sethu said: “It’s less than a month since my wrist surgery and getting my momentum on track back is top priority. I entered the race on a very positive note after the morning warm up. However I, touched another rider in lap 3 of the race which unsettled my rhythm and I couldn’t recover fast enough. But moving ahead, I want to score in the next Chennai round. From now to August, it will be time for intensive training. First on my target is to win podium at National Championship and then better my craft when I compete in the Thai Talent Cup in this month itself.”