Vishwadev performs well in Race 1: Malaysia Superbikes Championship

David Bodapati April 29, 2017

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Vishwadev Muralidharan, astried a Kawasaki 250, on way to 4th place in the Open 250 category in the Malaysia Superbikes Championship at Sepang on Saturday. Photo By Srinivasa Krishnan

Udipta Kumar Rath. Image by Srinivasa Krishnan

Sepang (Kuala Lumpur), 29 April 2017: Former Indian Group D champion, Vishwadev Muraleedharan had a good outing at Sepang International Circuit here on Saturday in the second round of the Pirelli Malaysia Superbike Championship 2017. He was promoted to fourth place in the revised official result for the first race with a

time of 21:35.855. Vishwadev’s teammate Md Jazil Juraimi of Malaysia won the race in 21:18.758.

Vishwadev, the 25-year-old MBA graduate from Coimbatore promoted by Lod Racing in India, is taking part in the Open 250 Category for the second year and there are three other Indian riders in the fray in different categories. Vishwadev, who finished 4th twice last year, for his best placing in the Malaysian Super Bikes Championship in 2016, has qualified in 5th today and completed the race in sixth place astride a Kawasaki 250 with Chia PJ Kawasaki team. However, a penalty on the riders who finished in P2 and P3, pushed the ace Indian rider into a creditable fourth place. The second race will be held on Sunday. “I have not performed up to my satisfaction today and I look forward to better racing on Sunday,” said Vishwadev. Dinesh Kumar Devadoss of RACR finished 7th with a time of 21:44.241 also on a Kawasaki 250.

Another young Orissa lad, Udipta Kumar Rath, had a mixed day as he survived a couple of mistakes and difficult handling of the bike to qualify 11th. But he did make up and switched up a bit in the race conditions to finish 9th in his class and 14th overall in the 12-lap race of the Supersport A class after starting from 20th on the grid. Riding on a completely new layout, the Jyote Group and Motoziel Retail, is on a new Suzuki Gixxer600 bike. The Indian did well to complete the race without any further hiccups as in the qualies. “I have tried to work-out the faults and have experimented today. This will put me in a better frame for the Sunday’s race. I am looking forward for a better performance,” said the ARD Performance Motorsports team rider.

Rajini Krishnan K is taking part in the Superbike A class for Chia PJ Kawasaki team in a ZX10R.

The final races will be on Sunday.

eom/David