Sarath Kumar Misses the Second Round of 600cc ARRC Race

Sarath Kumar, a 24-year old Chennai-based rider, was unable to participate in his expected debut race during the second round of the Asian Road Racing Championship (ARRC) following a knee injury. The race took place at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand. The rider is backed financially by the WOW Digit, Hong Kong, and has signed up to race in the 600cc class supersport racing category at the ongoing season.

The Indian rider participated in the three free practice sessions that took place on Friday. Speaking on the situation, Sarath said, “It was most unfortunate that my debut in the 600cc class was a non-starter. I was in severe pain after participating in the three Free Practice sessions on Friday following which we decided to skip the rest of the weekend rather than risk aggravating the injury.” He further added, “Hopefully, I will be fit and ready for the third round at Suzuka in Japan next month (June 4-5).”

Sarath rides with Ten10 Racing team along with two experienced Japanese racers, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Taiga Hada. Sarath. Apart from the support of WOW digit, he also gets backing from Honda Motorcycles and Scooters, India, Honda Motors, Japan and the Ten10 team itself.

Ramji Govindarajan, Managing Director, Ten10 Racing, said: “As we all know, Sarath is still recovering from his knee injury and FP3 (Free Practice-3) took a toll on his knee and he was in pain. So the team decided to run him only for five laps.”

“The grid is a tough one, but we as a team and manager are not putting any pressure on him to perform. We want him to recover and learn the nuances of riding a 600cc motorcycle step by step. Sarath has been working hard on it despite being in pain and is not able to ride through left corner or right to left quick transition turns. We are hoping that he would have fully recovered from the injury for the next round in Japan,” he added.

2016 ARRC Race Calendar

• Round 1 – Johor Circuit, Malaysia, April 1-2 (completed); 
• Round 2 – Chang International Circuit, Thailand, May 7-8 (completed); 
• Round 3 – Suzuka Circuit, Japan, June 4-5; 
• Round 4 – Sentul Circuit, Indonesia, August 6-7; 
• Round 5 – Buddh International Circuit, India, October 1-2; 
• Round 6 – Chang International Circuit, Thailand, December 3-4.