‘Riding on the home track should give us an advantage’

Pune: Indian rider duo of Rajiv Sethu and Anish Shetty are looking to extract maximum advantage of getting to ride on home track when the IDEMITSU Honda Racing team kick-starts their campaign in the Round 4 of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) at the Madras Motor Race Track in Sriperumbudur near Chennai scheduled from August 3 to 5.

The Indian team went through intense three rounds in Thailand, Australia and Japan and now on home soil the two will hope to do their best.

The initiative of Honda Motorcycles India has seen Indian racing talent go international thanks to T Pro Ten10 Racing with first three rounds taking place at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand in March, Bend Motorsports Park in Australia in April and the Suzuka Circuit in Japan in June.

Both the riders will be competing in the Asia Production 250 class this weekend and are looking forward to give their best shot and earn the much needed points. Rajiv Sethu has had an experience competing at the ARRC before but for Anish this was debut season at the ARRC.

In an interview with Sakal Times, both the riders spoke about their preparations and the excitement of performing in front of the home crowd.

“The preparations are going on well for the upcoming round. After the Japan round we had around six practice sessions on MMRT and had five special training sessions on the go karting track at Bangalore along with other sessions which included fitness sessions,” Anish said.

Speaking about the three rounds, Anish said: “The learning curve has been steep as I can see the changes when I have been participating in the national championship here in India. I am looking forward to make the best use of the opportunity which I am getting and get better.”

“Every race is a part of learning. There are a lot of things which we try out on the track. Since Chennai is our home track we do have an advantage. As this is my first year of the Asian Championship, the previous three tracks were the first time I was riding on them,” Anish said.

Rajiv Sethu who is back after an injury is looking forward to give his best.

“The preparations are going all good for the upcoming round this weekend. We are prepared mentally and physically and are ready for the weekend,” Sethu informed.

Speaking about the earlier rounds Sethu said: “The first round was pretty good. In the second round, I had a crash and in the third round I was recovering and couldn’t give my 100 percent not now I am fully prepared to perform well on the home track.”

“Overall all the riders are strong. There will be around 8 or 9 riders for the competition. Riding on the home track is surely going to be an advantage for us as we have spent a lot of time here at MMRT,” Sethu added.