Mixed bag for Sarath: FIM Asia Road Racing
Buriram, 17 April 2017: India’s Shankar Sarath Kumar and his team RAMA Honda Racing by NTS T.Pro Ten10 had mixed fortunes in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship here over the weekend.
Sarath Kumar picked up three points from the first race of the SuperSport 600cc class, but drew blank in the next while team-mate Rajiv Sethu missed the Asia Production 250cc double-header due to a crash during free practice session.
Both the Chennai-based riders are supported by Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Honda Motorsports Japan besides John Sudheer of RAMA Group of Companies and are part of a five-rider team.
For Sarath Kumar, it was hard work through the race weekend, but he did well to gradually improve his timings that reflected his ability to adapt to the 600cc bike as he scored points for the third consecutive race this season to take his tally to seven from two rounds.
However, in the second race, Sarath battled to control the bike, especially through some of the corners and came away without any points.
Rajiv Sethu could not start the races in the AP250 due to crash he suffered in the third Free Practice session. The bike is damaged and as it was a new model bike, the frame was not available immediately and hence he had to sit out the weekend.
Team manager Ramji Govindarajan said: “Overall, it was not a great weekend for the whole team. Out top rider Taiga Hada (Japan) had a crash in Race 1 and finished seventh in the next to score some points.
“Our only other rider in the AP250 class, Tomoyoshi Koyama managed to finish sixth and seventh in the two races with the bike still under development. He fought hard with the second batch of riders who still had faster bikes.
“We now look ahead to Suzuka round in June. With much deserved recovery, training and development time for the team and the riders, we will re-group strongly for the Suzuka outing.”
eom/FMSCI release
