Suresh Babu blazes a trail

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After Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok established the country’s presence in the world of four-wheeler racing, this season seems to be the year of Indian bikers.

A harsh baptism in the pinnacle of motorsport — MotoGP — helped Sarath Kumar realise the importance of going through the ranks and his entry into the Italian Championship has turned out to be eventful. Sarath is showing stupendous improvement under Mahindra Racing team.

The Chennai boy rode a brilliant race to finish third at Monza on Sunday to record his maiden podium outside the country.

Having secured a strong supporter in Mahindra, all Sarath has to do now is to concentrate on the road ahead and move up the ladder cashing in on the golden opportunity.

A fortnight ago, another biker J. Suresh Babu blazed a trail at Sealine Cross Country Rally in Qatar. The event was the second leg of the world championship.

Cross country rallies are designed to be staged over a variety of terrain and are intended to test the skill and endurance of competitors and the reliability of their machines.

The Coimbatore biker didn’t enjoy a great debut in terms of results, but the experience of competing in a gruelling event has surely boosted the confidence of Suresh, whose ultimate ambition is to be part of the famous Dakar rally.

Suresh has rich experience of competing in rallies as he has been a regular in the country’s most demanding motorsport event, Raid de Himalaya. As a fitness freak, he also participates in marathons regularly.

The Qatar event boasted of five taxing days of competition over 1231. 84kms, punctuated by soft sand, dunes, hard and rocky terrain,making it one of the most testing events in the world.

Piloting his Suzuki RMX450Z motorcycle, Suresh finished 35th overall. “With around 300kms of special stages every day, it was an experience of a life time.

I have to thank my sponsors Suzuki, Airoh Helmets, Alpinestars, Motul, ProBikes, AG and RK for making it a reality,” said Suresh, whose bike was prepared by Dubai-based ace tuner Aldrin Samuel.

Continuing the Indian riders’ success story, Rajini Krishnan and R. Deepak had a whale of a time at the Qatar Asian Road Racing Championship. Rajini finished fourth in the opening race, while Deepak took the same spot in the following race.