Indian riders shine at World Finals of Motorcycle Drag Racing

Sundeep Singh Sokhi and Amit Sharma made the country proud in their debut outing in the World Finals of Motorcycle Drag-Racing in the USA. Sharma and Sokhi are the first Indian riders to qualify and race in the World Finals and were selected by Elite Octane. Both the riders were handpicked by 11-time world drag race champion Rickey Gadson as they had participated in the Gadson Drag Racing School, which was held during the 2017 edition of The Valley Run at the Amby Valley airstrip. Since both the riders were rookies they were given a put through a short two-day training programme on the drag-spec Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 specifically developed by by Gadson himself.

Despite the short training and lack of experience of racing on stickier drag-spec surface, the duo were unfazed and posted impressive timings. Sokhi clocked the third fastest time out of the 35 entries in the ‘Street Fighter’ category with a timing of 9.503 sec. Amit Sharma went even quicker and he managed to compete in the much tougher "Seasoned Racers Class”. In his debut outing, Sharma posted a blistering quick time of 8.87 sec and managed a top 16 finish in his class. We hope that the performance of both the drag racers inspire more riders to take up the sport.

Commenting on their performance, Rongom Tagore Mukerji, Director, Elite Octane Inc. said, “It is indeed an amazing performance by the two fastest Indians. Sokhi’s performance was just brilliant. It is certainly not an easy task and that too in the very first experience. Amit was no less by any means when he represented in another tough category with 64 racers and was blisteringly quick. It’s been a dream start and Elite Octane looks forward to extend such platforms for creating many such great moments in future with the support of Rickey Gadson Drag Racing School. From Valley Run (Aamby Valley City, India) to World Finals in USA - it has truly been an amazing journey.”