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Been a while since i've posted on here. Ever since the racing went downhill after my previous team Red Rooster Racing pulled out of bike racing, i've kinda of been lying low. Nothing very exciting went on after that. As far as racing goes I was contemplating throwing in the towel when i recently got a call from a good friend of mine, Anil. I was instrumental in introducing Anil to the race track back in 2008, little did i know how that would then go on to change the course of his life. Back then i remember his enthusiasm while racing with us in the R15 Group D category. On the last lap of the race, i along with the top few expert riders would be sure to lap Anil as we fought for position. At the time i thought the experience would dampen his spirits, but i was so wrong. Fast forward to the present and Anil has since then moved on from racing on the track to being very invovled with other aspects of motorsport in the country. He was Chief time keeper for a couple of championships and also developed tools to improve the efficiency of the timing system in our races across the country. Anil quit his job as Director in a top multinational IT company just recently to focus completely on his passion which is now motorsports.
The call i got from Anil was to team up with him with his newly setup team Apex Racing. He still had that old enthusiasm in his voice. Me on the other hand, cold and hardened from the negative experiences of motorsports in a country that cares only about cricket, you could say i'm quite the opposite. Resigned to the reality that motorcycle racing doesnt seem to be going anywhere in this country. But Anil wouldnt give up, he believes in me for reasons best known to him. I gave in and now ride for Apex Racing.
We had our first race experience these past 2 weekends with the MRF Championship 2011 where we took part in the most popular racing class for bikes, Group D 165CC 4 stroke. Having been away from the scene for so long, i was skeptical. A new breed of younger riders dominate the track now. Young guns with no fear, out there willing to risk it all to win and possibly secure some sort of future in racing for themselves. The group D class itself, so competitive with 36 riders on the grid. These young guns out there practicing at the track every chance they get, vying for faster laptimes, pushing the envelope. It was intimidating to be back with no ammunition but dreaded days at work in front of a computer, booze and sleepless nights in front of the tele. Could i really dare to compete with these new breed of dedicated racers? Racing like any other sport, once you are away from the competitive edge for a while, its a big mountain to climb if you want to get back.
As expected the first round showed us just how far ahead the competition had gone. Being a new team on a shoe string budget didnt help things either. My bike was a barely setup machine. Anil was kind enough to donate his R15 to the cause, the same bike which he raced on back in 2008 and which subsequently he offered on rent at the track for newbies to gain experience on. Joel was kind enough to allow me to work with him to develop his ECU. Round 1 was a struggle for me, qualifying got messed up due to a mechnical problem and i had to start from 9th on the grid. I just about managed 2:14's in the race which put me in 5th and some 30 seconds behind the top rider. It reminded me of my initial days in racing when i would cross the finish line unable to even see the front runners who were long gone. Still it was a hard fought race to 5th against strong competition, so it was good and we persisted as a team. Strong friendships forged over time and Anil's unrelenting belief in me kept the ball rolling. At times i wondered to myself why he refused to give up on this 33year old has-been who is racing against riders half his age and 15kgs lighter than him, but then as a racer you cannot entertain such thoughts, you need to believe in yourself to win, otherwise it can never happen.
For Round 2 this past weekend we were better prepared and managed to improve the bike as well, taking one step at a time methodically. As always Joel was there to help, to listen to my feedback and make improvements to the ECU mapping as well as help me with other things i needed. Free practice saw some improvements to laptime but i still wasnt confident in being able to run at the top. Finally on race day morning we were able to find a setting i was happy with and i broke into the 2:11's. The bike though, not at the same level as the top 3 bikes was at least competitive now and this raised my spirits. There was still a shocker to come, when the qualifying results came up, it was so tight that there were 6 riders in the 2:11's (see result sheet here http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...s/fun/qual.jpg). This was the first time we'd ever seen such a tight grid for Group D, i had qualified 8th. One good thing came from experience, i was cool at the start grid. Over time racing you develop this sense, you can tell which riders are nervous and those who arent confident in themselves. I watched young ones twitching in their leathers, tense behind their helmets and planned my moves. I got a good start, moved across the lane to block the guy immediately behind from passing and gunned for my planned line into corner 1. It worked and by corner 2 i had gotten past several riders. From then on i put my head down and gave it 110% for all the laps. My machine wasn't in the same league as the top 3, i had to override into some corners to stay with the group, this mean't always being on edge, loosing traction front and rear at times...it was on-the-edge racing and during all of that i remember distinctly in one particularly hairy corner as 3 of us dived in together, for a brief moment i was so compeletely relaxed and at peace...it was almost like the eye of the storm. In the slip stream with the top 3 bikes gunning it out far ahead of the rest of the group. In that slip stream there was total slience for that moment as thoughts briefly wandered. I thought to myself, why do i really do this? Am i here to prove a point? what is it exactly that drives me? And then it hit me, and i was happy because i knew it was the truth, i was doing this because i loved it so much. I smiled to myself inside my helmet and shot past the 4th place rider into 3rd position. It was the last lap of the race, and i thought i had it covered but at the pace we were going the smallest mistake can cost you. I must've opened throttle a little too quickly in my anxiousness to get away from the guy behind me, in that second i lost the rear wheel just briefly at over 100kph. The 1 second i took to recover it was enough for the guy behind to regain position and so we crossed the finish line, all 4 of us at the top, all seperated by less than a second. It was a good feeling to be back at the top again and even more exhilarating was when we all got to see the race result sheet. I had set the fastest lap of the race with a 2:09.984. Up until then, only 4 riders had ever broken into the 2:09's and they were the best of the best. To do that on inferior machinery and with a weight disadvantage of 15kilos made the achievement all the more sweet. On these group D bikes a weight difference of 10kgs is equal to around 1 second in laptime. (race result sheet:- http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23.../fun/race1.jpg).
I feel good now and confident. I'm back for another season. A huge thanks to Anil, Joel, Jeeva and the entire team for their undying belief in me and support. The MRF championship 2011 was testing ground. I will gear up now with my team to launch an assault on the National Championship that starts in June. If you would like to show support for me and my team Apex Racing, do visit our page on facebook Apex Racing India | Facebook
Thanks for reading
Been a while since i've posted on here. Ever since the racing went downhill after my previous team Red Rooster Racing pulled out of bike racing, i've kinda of been lying low. Nothing very exciting went on after that. As far as racing goes I was contemplating throwing in the towel when i recently got a call from a good friend of mine, Anil. I was instrumental in introducing Anil to the race track back in 2008, little did i know how that would then go on to change the course of his life. Back then i remember his enthusiasm while racing with us in the R15 Group D category. On the last lap of the race, i along with the top few expert riders would be sure to lap Anil as we fought for position. At the time i thought the experience would dampen his spirits, but i was so wrong. Fast forward to the present and Anil has since then moved on from racing on the track to being very invovled with other aspects of motorsport in the country. He was Chief time keeper for a couple of championships and also developed tools to improve the efficiency of the timing system in our races across the country. Anil quit his job as Director in a top multinational IT company just recently to focus completely on his passion which is now motorsports.
The call i got from Anil was to team up with him with his newly setup team Apex Racing. He still had that old enthusiasm in his voice. Me on the other hand, cold and hardened from the negative experiences of motorsports in a country that cares only about cricket, you could say i'm quite the opposite. Resigned to the reality that motorcycle racing doesnt seem to be going anywhere in this country. But Anil wouldnt give up, he believes in me for reasons best known to him. I gave in and now ride for Apex Racing.
We had our first race experience these past 2 weekends with the MRF Championship 2011 where we took part in the most popular racing class for bikes, Group D 165CC 4 stroke. Having been away from the scene for so long, i was skeptical. A new breed of younger riders dominate the track now. Young guns with no fear, out there willing to risk it all to win and possibly secure some sort of future in racing for themselves. The group D class itself, so competitive with 36 riders on the grid. These young guns out there practicing at the track every chance they get, vying for faster laptimes, pushing the envelope. It was intimidating to be back with no ammunition but dreaded days at work in front of a computer, booze and sleepless nights in front of the tele. Could i really dare to compete with these new breed of dedicated racers? Racing like any other sport, once you are away from the competitive edge for a while, its a big mountain to climb if you want to get back.
As expected the first round showed us just how far ahead the competition had gone. Being a new team on a shoe string budget didnt help things either. My bike was a barely setup machine. Anil was kind enough to donate his R15 to the cause, the same bike which he raced on back in 2008 and which subsequently he offered on rent at the track for newbies to gain experience on. Joel was kind enough to allow me to work with him to develop his ECU. Round 1 was a struggle for me, qualifying got messed up due to a mechnical problem and i had to start from 9th on the grid. I just about managed 2:14's in the race which put me in 5th and some 30 seconds behind the top rider. It reminded me of my initial days in racing when i would cross the finish line unable to even see the front runners who were long gone. Still it was a hard fought race to 5th against strong competition, so it was good and we persisted as a team. Strong friendships forged over time and Anil's unrelenting belief in me kept the ball rolling. At times i wondered to myself why he refused to give up on this 33year old has-been who is racing against riders half his age and 15kgs lighter than him, but then as a racer you cannot entertain such thoughts, you need to believe in yourself to win, otherwise it can never happen.
For Round 2 this past weekend we were better prepared and managed to improve the bike as well, taking one step at a time methodically. As always Joel was there to help, to listen to my feedback and make improvements to the ECU mapping as well as help me with other things i needed. Free practice saw some improvements to laptime but i still wasnt confident in being able to run at the top. Finally on race day morning we were able to find a setting i was happy with and i broke into the 2:11's. The bike though, not at the same level as the top 3 bikes was at least competitive now and this raised my spirits. There was still a shocker to come, when the qualifying results came up, it was so tight that there were 6 riders in the 2:11's (see result sheet here http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...s/fun/qual.jpg). This was the first time we'd ever seen such a tight grid for Group D, i had qualified 8th. One good thing came from experience, i was cool at the start grid. Over time racing you develop this sense, you can tell which riders are nervous and those who arent confident in themselves. I watched young ones twitching in their leathers, tense behind their helmets and planned my moves. I got a good start, moved across the lane to block the guy immediately behind from passing and gunned for my planned line into corner 1. It worked and by corner 2 i had gotten past several riders. From then on i put my head down and gave it 110% for all the laps. My machine wasn't in the same league as the top 3, i had to override into some corners to stay with the group, this mean't always being on edge, loosing traction front and rear at times...it was on-the-edge racing and during all of that i remember distinctly in one particularly hairy corner as 3 of us dived in together, for a brief moment i was so compeletely relaxed and at peace...it was almost like the eye of the storm. In the slip stream with the top 3 bikes gunning it out far ahead of the rest of the group. In that slip stream there was total slience for that moment as thoughts briefly wandered. I thought to myself, why do i really do this? Am i here to prove a point? what is it exactly that drives me? And then it hit me, and i was happy because i knew it was the truth, i was doing this because i loved it so much. I smiled to myself inside my helmet and shot past the 4th place rider into 3rd position. It was the last lap of the race, and i thought i had it covered but at the pace we were going the smallest mistake can cost you. I must've opened throttle a little too quickly in my anxiousness to get away from the guy behind me, in that second i lost the rear wheel just briefly at over 100kph. The 1 second i took to recover it was enough for the guy behind to regain position and so we crossed the finish line, all 4 of us at the top, all seperated by less than a second. It was a good feeling to be back at the top again and even more exhilarating was when we all got to see the race result sheet. I had set the fastest lap of the race with a 2:09.984. Up until then, only 4 riders had ever broken into the 2:09's and they were the best of the best. To do that on inferior machinery and with a weight disadvantage of 15kilos made the achievement all the more sweet. On these group D bikes a weight difference of 10kgs is equal to around 1 second in laptime. (race result sheet:- http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23.../fun/race1.jpg).
I feel good now and confident. I'm back for another season. A huge thanks to Anil, Joel, Jeeva and the entire team for their undying belief in me and support. The MRF championship 2011 was testing ground. I will gear up now with my team to launch an assault on the National Championship that starts in June. If you would like to show support for me and my team Apex Racing, do visit our page on facebook Apex Racing India | Facebook
Thanks for reading
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