Yamaha Return!
After a two-year absence from the racing scene, Yamaha have finally made their presence felt
The last tIme we saw Yamaha at the track with a grid full of bikes for a one make race Championship was in 2015. they were absent for the 2016 season, and with the 2017 season coming to an end, the Japanese company decided to make its presence felt in the very last round of the race season, held over the last weekend of september, by organising a mini championship with just two races. hopefully, this is an indication that Yamaha will be back in full form from the next season. But for now, our race report.
RACE ONE
saturday’s six-lap race saw hyderabad’s sai rahil Pillarishetty and Coimbatore’s nithish Kumar pull away from the rest of the pack as they traded the lead trying to best each other. at the finish line it was rahil who took the chequered flag by barely half a second, with nithish coming in second. Chennai’s aswin Kumar finished in third place, just ahead of Bengaluru’s aditya rao Immaneni.
RACE TWO
rain threatened to cease racing on sunday, but with the race officials drying out the 2.1-kilometre club circuit, racing continued on this shorter loop. with the battle lines drawn the previous day, REPORT: ANOSH KHUMBATTA PHOTOGRAPHY: SRINIVASA KRISHNAN nithish Kumar knew exactly what he had to do, and managed to set the fastest lap of the race on his way to victory. this time is was rahil who finished in second place, with akshay V m taking the last spot on the podium. aditya rao Immaneni was the model of consistency, finishing in fourth place once again.
nithish and rahil, having earned one first place and one second place each, were tied with 43 points in the championship. however, since the rules state that in case of a tie the win will go to the rider with the better position in the last race, it was nithish who was awarded the coveted championship trophy, while rahil had to settle for second place. aditya’s two fourth-place finishes saw him earn 24 points and third place in the championship.
with the season at its end, we do hope that Yamaha get back in the racing groove and return for a full race season in 2018.