Triple podium for Rajini Krishnan in Malaysian SBK; finishes second runner-up in the championship

INDIAinF1 Desk October 10, 2018

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Rajini Krsishnan....triple poidium in Malaysian SBK. Photo: RACR

Kuala Lumpur, 10 October 2018: India’s leading rider, Rajini Krishnan, riding a Yamaha YZF R1, enjoyed a fruitful weekend with three podium spots, including one win, as he ended his campaign in the 2018 Malaysian Superbike Championship by finishing third in the series at the Sepang International Circuit here on Sunday.

The 33-year old Azlan Shah Kumaruzaman of Chia PJ Kawasaki Racing team riding a Ninja ZX-10R won the championship.

The weekend saw the fourth and fifth rounds being run with a total of four races. In Saturday’s Round 4 double-header. Rajini qualified second and finished second in Race-1 and won Race-2. Krishnan was the 2015 1000cc champion of the Malaysian SBK. He also finished runner-up in 2017.

On Sunday, he again finished second in Race-1, but pulled out of the second race which cost him a second place in the championship and he eventually ended up second runner-up by a mere one point.

Reflecting on Sunday’s fiasco, Rajini said: “As the weather wasn’t bad, I went out on Slick tyres. However, once I reached the grid, it started to rain. The Race Control declared the race as wet and gave a time of 15 minutes for the riders to change their tyres from slicks to wet.

“As we did not have a spare wheel, I decided to go out again on the same slick tyres. During the sighting lap, I couldn’t ride my bike and it was a huge risk to ride with the slick tyres in the rain. So we decided to withdraw from the race.

“I ended up in losing my first runner-up position in the championship and finished second runner-up champion by just one point.

“I would like to thank my sponsors and friends who backed me for this season. I hope to do much better in the next season. The results could have been better with more sponsorship funding. We needed a better braking system as we had severe issues with brakes during the season including a major crash due to brake fade. Also, a lack of a spare wheel cost me the second place in the championship by just one point.”