After the training and qualifying session back in May, the 12 riders who made it through were flown to Kari Motor Speedway for Race 1. The event unfolded and took various turns with drama, excitement, anxiety and an overflow of emotions throughout. Let’s take a look at all of it.
Practice and Qualifying
TVS organised the Media Race along with the INMRC Race 1 at Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore. The track was recently updated with a new layout, adding a few extra corners and seemed like the tarmac too was revised. While the overall track is pretty smooth to ride/drive on, it’s the layout that makes Kari one of the most technical and engaging race tracks in India. The turns are pretty tight, the wind is hitting you from every direction and gets even stranger as the dusk approaches. It was my first time riding at such a demanding track but the adrenaline rush overshadowed the anxiety. Regardless, we were in the seats of our assigned bike – race-prepped TVS Apache RTR 200 4V with fresh and new Petronas Livery.
Everyone took it easy during the practice session since we were yet to figure out the gears for the corners and our braking markers as well. As the session progressed, everyone picked up the pace and started understanding the trajectories they were comfortable with. For reference, at the home straight, the inner line feels and appears to be faster than the outer one. However, the same line also makes it difficult for the rider to enter the C1 (left-hand corner) since it’s opposite the corner entry point. So, you need to brake towards the 100m marker and then tip in the bike from the outside line, which is much more convenient. Once you are out of the C1, the bike needs to have ample drive with the throttle rolled back, so that you can enter C2 and exit it from the outer line.
There are a few corners where I and a lot of other riders made constant errors. For example, the entry to C4 is supposed to be wide enough for the C5 to present itself pretty much right in front of you. Even the last hairpin corner humbled everyone. If and whenever there was a dog fight among the riders at the last corner, some would manage to overtake the others using the inner lines while others would be able to carry higher speeds taking the outer line.
My fastest lap time during the practice was about 1:41:760. “Not a problem, let’s captivate on the errors from the qualifiers during the race (ironic), I said to myself. So, the day was about to end with the media qualifying set as the last track outing. All 12 of us pushed ourselves to the limit lap after lap. Once done, we saw the timing sheet and I ended up the last one.
Apart from constantly struggling in some corners a slight mishap in the second lap left me a tad shuddered. As I entered C4, the bike stalled in second gear even though the revs were high enough and immediately fired back up. But since the throttle was still pinned halfway, the rear jiggled a fair bit and I ended pretty much outside the track. The same was reported to the mechanics and they found out that the bike needed a new sparkplug, desperately. Not to mention, one of us journalists also met with a crash which made him withdraw from the event. That was all for the first day and we were T-19 hours away from the very first race of the season.
Race 1
When we arrived back at the track on Sunday, everyone carried a different demeanour before the race. All the chatter that happened for the past two days vanished and everyone was focused solely on the race. I too started watching the POV (point of view) videos of the races at Kari on the web to revise the layout and race lines. This meant a bare minimum to no chirping with the fellow riders.
1330 hours, June 12, 2022, the media race commenced and we lined up at our grid positions following a formation lap. As per my timing, I was the last one. So the one crucial bit that had to be executed perfectly was the launch. Well, like the practice session, I managed to launch the bike perfectly off the line and it helped me gain a spot immediately from the rider ahead. Laps went flying by as all 11 of us were laser-focused on one thing – go fast, don’t crash. The last 4-5 riders were having a race of their own as we’d overtake each other every now and then either on the straights or the last hairpin corner.
The entire race was pretty much smooth until the rider at the first spot met with a low-side crash at the second last corner. The marshals immediately waved the Yellow flags and every bike after the one that crashed had to slow down. Since this happened before the last corner of the last lap, the riders didn’t have much distance to close. So, as soon as the green flags were out and the race was on, the bikes were back to full gas and we all crossed the finishing line in seconds. Fair to say, the end of Race 1 was nothing short of drama but that’s what motorcycle racing is. Uncertainty and mishaps always lurking in the shadows.
Even though securing the podium or being in the top five wasn’t possible this time, I was pretty satisfied since my lap time dropped from 1:41:760 to 1:36:135. That’s five seconds faster than the qualifiers, and I hope to get better for the coming races. On to the next one in August at the MMRT.
