Four Indians for Asian bike races

Chennai, July 11 (IANS):

Indian eyes will be on Rajini Krishnan and Deepak Ravikumar, who have been given wild cards for the SuperSport 600cc class, while compatriots Sumit Lucas Toppo and Arunagiri Prabhu are set to participate in the Asia Dream Cup in the third round of the Petronas Asia Road Racing championship commencing at the Madras Motor Race Track in Sriperumbudur near here Friday.

The event returns to India after a break last year when the track was being renovated and the championship leaders in each of the three categories – SuperSport 600cc, 115cc Underbone and Asia Dream Cup – will be seen in action over the weekend.

Friday will be devoted to free practice sessions, and the qualifying session for all the three categories will be run Saturday afternoon while the double-header races are scheduled for Sunday.

In the premium 600cc class, Malaysia’s Azlan Shah, the championship leader with 90 points, will again be starting out as the favourite on his Honda and will be challenged by several quality riders.

The grid also includes a strong Japanese presence in Katsuaki Fujiwara, a World SuperSports rider and currently second in the championship with 69 points, besides two MotoGP riders Makoto Tamada and Tomoyoshi Koyama.

The packed Underbone field will as usual witness some close racing with just 20 points separating the top six in the championship that Indonesian Hadi Wijaya on a Yahama leads with 67 points ahead of Norizman Ismail (65), Ahmad Afif Amran (59), Kazuki Masaki (54), Harlan Fadhillah (51) and Gupita Kresna (47).

Japan’s Hiroki Ono, winner of three of the four races in the previous two rounds, heads the Dream Cup category with a tally of 95 points, well clear of Md. Razali (57) and Khairul Pawi (55).

For the four Indians, it will be a good exposure at best as they will be pitted against some of Asia’s top riders. Rajini is fresh from winning a championship in the Gulf and yet again will be the cynosure of the home fans.