National Championship, International Flavour
The Gixxer Cup competitors had international company for the final round at BIC
The gixxer Cup Racers had enough to deal with. new weather conditions, a new track and, for the final round, they also found themselves face to face with the riders of the fédération internationale de Motocyclisme (fiM) asian Cup of road racing (aCrr). the fiM aCrr riders were in india for the third round of their championship. although all participants started on the same grid astride equally-matched Suzuki gixxer motorcycles, the results were announced separately for the gixxer Cup and the aCrr.
the fiM aCrr comprises young riders from different asian countries like Japan, thailand, Sri lanka, philippines, nepal, taiwan, and india. representing india were Sai rahil pillarisetty and israel Vanlalhruaizela in india-a, and lal nunsanga and ryhana bee in india-b. following the first two rounds in thailand and taiwan, india-a were
fourth in the championship, right behind the teams representing the philippines and thailand.
RACE ONE
Dan Carlo alvarado (philippines) started on pole with a time of 2:54.276 in qualifying. right behind him were pillarisetty, and Mei Sakurai (Japan). the six-lap race that ensued saw gixxer Cup and aCCr riders fight for their respective competitions. as the race progressed, things were looking great for the local boys as they slowly began to pull away from the other riders. pillarisetty rode a brilliant race and finished first; almost 30 seconds ahead of Vanlalhruaizela. lal nunsanga claimed third place, making it an allindian podium.
RACE TWO
the second race was full of tense moments as everyone seemed to have picked up the pace. Consistent performances by most of the racers ensured that pillarisetty did not run away at the front. for most of the race he was hounded by the Japanese duo of Miu nakahara and Mei Sakurai. although the latter fell behind by the end of six laps, nakahara was only less than two-tenths of a second behind the race winner, pillarisetty. Sakurai defended his position and claimed third place leaving Vanlalhruaizela to settle for fourth.
it was great to see team india-a hold their ground and claim top spots in both races on home turf.