Intro
I was sad that the final round of my first-ever race track experience was about to end in two days. For me, the TVS Young Media Program allowed me to unlearn old habits and learn new ones and, simultaneously, go racing with some of the fastest journalists in the country. I was secretly hoping to have more rounds till December but that went in vain.
For the final round, I had only one plan – apply the right techniques and don’t give up till the end and I’m glad this plan worked.
Free Practice & Qualifying
The round 3 free practice didn’t go as planned. Out of the 15 mins of free practice, I could barely ride for 5 mins. At first, during my second lap of free practice, the gear lever came off. The bolt that holds the gear lever had come loose and due to the vibrations, it eventually came off on the race track. As a result of this, I had to ride in third gear throughout the track before entering the pit lane. The technicians tried fixing it at the pit but was taking too much time. So I was given another bike, which had brand new tyres. The tyre wax was still on and that meant, it would take at least two laps to warm up the tyres. But I was high in adrenaline. While I did drop my pace drastically, I still managed to crash out just before C3 – blame the high side. The tyre wasn’t warm enough to adjust to my pace and my rear tyre lost traction. And there went my free practice. For the next 10 minutes, I saw myself sitting behind the barricade and saw other racers pass me.
Luckily, the qualifying round ended up well for me. I stuck to the replacement bike that was given to me. I also made sure to properly heat the tyres - took two laps and then finally went for it. After three back-to-back fast laps, I ended up in P4 with 2:20:162. This meant, I would start the race in fourth position, which isn’t a bad place to be. With the same old strategy in mind, I was ready for my final race.
Race Day!
I had a fantastic start – the clutch release, the throttle and no lift from the front wheel meant, I quickly came to P3 and I was in that position for almost the first three laps. The battle for P3 kept on heating up as like always I kept struggling in the straights due to my body weight. A few racers overtook me in lap three and that meant, I may have to settle for P5.
For almost a lap, I kept putting a lot of pressure in the hopes that he would make a mistake and he did. At C10, I took the inside line and managed to attack quite well. The result was I was in P4. Sadly, there was quite a bit of distance between the racer ahead and me, but the battle between me and the racer behind was so intense, that we both caught to P3. Suddenly, I saw the hope of finishing this final race on the podium.
I followed him for almost a lap, trying to find his weak points. The chequered flag was just for corners away, and then I saw the moment – I took the inside line at C10 quite aggressively, which startled him. As a result, he went wide and I managed to cross the chequered flag in P3. What a moment it was!
From crashing out in the practice session to qualifying on a brand new bike with new tyres to finishing the race on the podium. Hard work does pay off!
Gallery
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TVS Apache RTR 200 4V Right Side View
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