Race 1 of TVS’ Young Media Racer Program had plenty of highlights, as well as many learning experiences.
Published on Oct 14, 2021 08:00:00 AM
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Sat on pole position before the start of race, staring at the long, empty stretch of tarmac ahead of me, I was feeling very nervous. My heart pounding in my chest and sweat dripping down my brow, I tried my best to focus on getting the perfect launch, recalling all the tricks our instructor Harry Sylvester had shown us.
Soon enough, the 5-second board was shown and the five red lights lit up in front of me. I put the bike in first, revved it up to 6,000rpm and let go of the clutch slightly to find the biting point. That’s when disaster struck, or at least I thought so in that moment. My fingers slipped a little too much from the clutch lever and the bike lurched forward. And before I could even stop it, the five red lights were out and we were underway. “Damn!,” I muttered to myself, thinking I’d jumped the start as I made my way down to Turn 1. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let me take you back to where this weekend started.
Arriving in Chennai for Race 1 of the 2021TVS Young Media Racer Programme, I was feeling confident, having topped the timing sheets in the qualifier round. However, there were still a few questions running in my mind: What’s the full track like? (We used the short loop at MMRT for the qualifier round due to weather conditions.) Will I able to position my body correctly this time? And are the bikes going to be the same or different?
The answer to that last question came soon after we reached the track for our free practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday. They were not the same bikes. For starters, the race bikes were blue TVS Apache RTR 200s instead of the red ones we had during the qualifier round. Furthermore, we would be running a smaller but softer compound, 110-section TVS Eurogrip rear tyre, compared to the 130-section we had for the qualifiers. And save for the free-flow exhaust and the removal of all the lights and ABS system, these bikes were bone stock.
After a quick chat with Sylvester, I set out on track for our free practice session. He helped me understand the ideal gears, braking points and turning points for each corner on the longer loop at MMRT. I tried to follow his instructions to the best of my abilities, but I could tell I was being very scrappy. I was braking too early for some corners while completely missing the apex for others. Thankfully, the session was long enough for me to rectify some of my mistakes and by the end I had started to develop a nice rhythm. The timing sheets reflected this too, I was improving my time with every passing lap. Then came the 15-minute qualifying session and the nerves started to settle in. I did a practice start as I left the pit lane (I actually nailed it this time around) and did my best to warm up the tyres. My first couple of laps were again a bit scruffy, but I managed to get in a clean lap towards the end and even managed to get a nice slipstream from one of my fellow competitors that definitely helped my time. And thankfully, I had done enough. I managed to grab pole position for the race on Sunday, with a lap time of 2min 21.6sec, a healthy 2.5sec quicker than my closest competitor.
Finally, it was race day! It was also Round 1 of the Indian National Motorcycling Racing Championship that day, so I watched as many races as I could just to get into that racing mindset. Soon after, we were told to get our gear on and prepare for the race. I did some stretching before I shoehorned myself into the race suit and hopped on the bike in anticipation. We made our way to the start line and took up our respective grid positions for the race start. After this came my jump start fiasco, which was continuously running on mind as I made my way around the track on the first lap.
Having followed motor racing since I was young, I knew that I would get a time penalty for my mistake, most likely 10 seconds. And having done all the hard work up till now (topping the practice session, qualifying on pole and leading after Lap 1), I was sure that I wouldn’t let the penalty take away the race victory from me. Hence, I just decided to try and build that 10-15 second buffer over my competitors in order to ensure the win.
The next couple of laps were a blur to be honest. I was so on it, pushing my limits further with every lap, that I almost lost the front end of the bike twice. When I finally decided to look back and see where the rest of the pack was, I couldn’t see anyone even three corners behind me. That’s when I knew I had a sufficient lead and started to relax. I took the chequered flag and made my way back to the pits with bated breath. To my surprise, the stewards had adjudged that I didn’t jump-start and was still in my starting grid box. That was a huge weight off my shoulders. I had officially won my first-ever race.
Despite all the highs, there are still a lot of things I need to work on in order to get better on the racetrack. For example, my body was very sore following the two days of riding, pointing out my lack of fitness, and my body positioning was still all over the place, as is evident from the pictures. And, not to forget, my overeagerness to get off the line, which could have cost me the victory. These are all the things I plan to work on ahead of Race 2. It just can’t come soon enough.
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