Sarath Kumar Gains Two Points At Round Three Of ARRC

Jun 5, 2017
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The third round of the Asia Road Racing Championship was held last weekend at Suzuka, Japan and the two Indian riders - Shankar Sarath Kumar and Rajiv Sethu showed improvements and earned important championship points.

The 2017 Season of the Asia Road Racing Championship is underway and this weekend, the action was at Suzuka, Japan. In the two races of round three, held on June 3 and 4, both the Indian racers showed improvement with Sarath Kumar scoring two points in the SuperSport class, bringing his tally to a total of nine points. Rajiv Sethu was riding in the Asia Production class for the first time and hence was unable to score any points.

The 24-year-old Indian rider Sarath Kumar races in the RAMA Honda Racing team by NTS T.Pro Ten10. Riding his Honda CBR 600WR, he started from the 18th position and managed to finish 14th in the first race, securing two points. Anthony West made a strong comeback in Japan by winning both the races, following the controversy and eventually being disqualified from both the races of round two (Chang International Circuit, Thailand) for ‘technical infringement’. In the second race, Kumar finished 17th, earning no points. He currently has 9 points in the championship and is at the 19th spot overall.

Rajiv Sethu, who is competing in the Asia Production class for the first time riding the Honda CBR250 for RAMA Honda started 26th on the grid and finished 28th in the first race, which was won by Gerry Salim. In the second race, Sethu managed to improve and finished on the 24th place, with the race being won by Salim again. Sethu is currently at the 28th place in the championship. The RAMA Honda team is currently placed third in the 600cc championship and fifth in the AP 250 class after three rounds.

Both Sarath and Sethu are backed by John Sudheer of the RAMA Group of companies besides Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Honda Motorsports Japan. Sarath finished 13th overall at the Asia Dream Cup in 2015 and 31st overall in the SuperSports 600cc in 2016. About the Japan race, Sarath said, “Although I improved my timing with each session this time as well, I still do not have enough speed compared to my competitors. As such, I want to review the riding style and be able to run faster in the rounds to follow.”

When asked about the race, Sethu said, “Although racing at the Suzuka circuit was not the first time because of my participation in the Asian Dream Cup in the previous season, it was still a difficult race I was riding the CBR 250 RR for the first time here. Yet, it was still a good experience as I was able to put in some good lap times.”