Too Close For Comfort!

THE TVS YOUNG MEDIA RACER PROGRAMME MAKES FROM SOME VERY INTERESTING RACE WEEKENDS

- Ashok George

Leading a race isn’t easy. It’s enormous amounts of pressure. Especially when the person behind you is a fast Parsi. Slipstreaming Rishaad Mody down the main straight was the easy part. But now that I was ahead of him, that point of focus was gone. Is this too early a point to brake? Is this too late a point to open the gas? Is this too far ahead to turn in? These questions were bouncing around in my head. The pressure was enormous. And then, entering C2 at the MMRT, I could feel the rear slide. And out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rishaad coming through on the inside.

The race weekend had started off like any other. The TVS Young Media Racer programme had kicked off two rounds ago, but fate hadn’t been on my side. The first round at the Kari Motor Speedway was cancelled due to bad weather. The second round at the MMRT, I had to miss because another motorcycle needed to be tested. So this – Round Three – was to be my first full weekend of racing in the programme.

Practice and qualifying was a mixed bag. Practice was spent getting used to my number seven motorcycle and the short loop of the MMRT. But that proved to be more difficult than I expected. The short loop connection that came right after C3 was proving to be real tricky. I also kept losing time through the last corner, closing throttle way too early.