Rajiv finishes 15th, Senthil 28th in Race 1 of Asia Road Racing Championship

IDEMITSU Honda Racing India rider Rajiv Sethu finished 15th to grab one point, while a crash for Senthil Kumar made him finish 28th in Race 1 of the fourth round of FIM Asia Road Racing Championship.

Rajiv Sethu in the lead during the practice session in Suzuka.

IDEMITSU Honda Racing India rider Rajiv Sethu finished 15th to grab one point, while a crash for Senthil Kumar made him finish 28th in Race 1 of the fourth round of FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) here on Saturday.

In the morning qualifier, Rajiv qualified at 13th after a 5th row start on the grid. Despite a good start, a cornering mistake in turn 16 dragged him to 15th position as he rode neck-and-neck with bunch of four riders.

A quick overtake by Indonesian rider Anggi Setiawan took him out of the top 15 in Lap 6.

But recovering fast, Rajiv overtook Honda’s Thai rider Tatkorin Buasri in the penultimate 7th lap to regain his spot in top 15.

The last lap was about avoiding any mistake to stay in top 15 and ensure points for India.

Starting 24th on grid, Senthil put up a tough fight. He jumped to 23rd by lap 2, overtook a rider to reach 22nd by lap 3 but returned to 23rd in lap 6. He maintained this pace till the last corner of the 8 lap race where he crashed and damaged his machine but managed to finish the race.