2017 TVS Media Racer Program Race 3: So Close, Yet So Far

  • Oct 20, 2017
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In the final race of the season, I cross the finish line first but there’s a twist in the tale and a lesson of a lifetime

2017 TVS Media Racer Program Race 3

Time has always been among the biggest adversaries of my life and I have been reprimanded for being late on shoots, events, etc. Little did I know that it would be on the race track that I would learn the most valuable lesson of my life when it came to my antagonist, but more on that later. Race 3 was supposed to be the final round of the TVS Young Media Racer Program and my only target was to register that elusive victory. My focus for the practice session was to improve my body posture on the bike as I wasn’t leaning off the bike enough, which in turn was affecting the stability of the motorcycle. As my riding posture improved, I could feel that I was going faster, and when the time came to put the hammer down, I qualified on pole by a lead of 1.5 seconds over Ashok George!

2017 TVS Media Racer Program Race 3

The pole position gave me a lot of confidence and I was feeling positive for the race and was reminding myself not to commit the mistakes of the past as I went to sleep. Now, Murphy’s law states that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. And that’s exactly what happened to me on Race day. As I exited the pitlane, the zipper of my race suit got unzipped from the bottom. I was furious as changing into a new suit would take around 10 minutes and that meant I could potentially miss starting the race from pole!

2017 TVS Media Racer Program Race 3

Luckily, the marshal was able to fix the zipper and I was out on the track. As I lined up the TVS Apache RTR 200 on the starting grid, my mind got distracted and instead of dumping the clutch when the lights go off, I did it few seconds prior and made a jump start. I knew I had committed a mistake but was unaware of the penalty and my only focus was to win the race. Despite the error at the start, I managed to cling onto the race lead and was feeling positive.

2017 TVS Media Racer Program Race 3
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The bike was flowing into the corners and I could feel that I was riding my best in this series so far. Such was my pace that I was clocking consistent lap times that were around 1.5 seconds faster than Ashok’s timings. I wasn’t happy though, as, I didn’t know how much the “jump start” would cost me. After reaching the pits, I was informed that I was handed a 10-second penalty.

2017 TVS Media Racer Program Race 3

This meant I lost the race by 0.85 seconds despite the fact that my lead on Ashok was a massive 10.85 seconds. Suddenly, all the memories of me not valuing time struck me and karma delivered a knockout punch. I finished the last race in 2nd place and my dream of standing on the first step of the rostrum remains unrealised. But what I learnt from that sunny afternoon in Chennai was the value of time, something I shall never forget for the rest of my life. 

Photography - Murali Rama Krishnan

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