As part of Team India at the ASEAN Cup, Adhish Alawani experiences international racing first hand. Team India made its entry in the ASEAN Cup this year by running a team in the one-make race organized by Yamaha.
The Indian team along with five other participating teams from the South East Asian countries was present in Thailand to compete in the Novice as well as the Experts class.The ASEAN Cup is a platform for upcoming racers from every country to compete against each other in a healthy way. Every rider gets a bike through a draw ensuring fair competition.
The racer along with his pit crew then gets the opportunity to set up the bike according to his requirement. This can include changing gear ratios, tuning carburetors and adjusting the riding posture, etc. The bikes provided for the Novice class were Yamaha T110s while the ones provided for the Expert class racers were the Yamaha T135s.
A set of sprockets and jets was also provided with each bike. With an extra pair of tyres, the rider had an option to shift to brand new rubber for the race day. Going for practice sessions, coming back in the pits, providing the mechanics with appropriate data to set up the bike and then going out on the track again to see how the new setup works was the agenda for the first day.
Though this was the case with most of the participating teams, for Team India it was more about getting used to the new type of motorcycles and the tight racetrack – something that the Indian racers have never experienced before.
Knee-scrapping on the underbones on the bumpy track was something the Indian racers started doing within an hour of practice. However, with such a limited time on the machines, it wasn’t possible for Team India to exploit the full capabilities of the bikes.
[Via: BIKE]
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