Round one of the TVS Young Media Racer Programme (YMRP) took place alongside the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC) weekend at the Madras International Circuit. Here is what went down
Story: Charan Karthik
Photography: TVS Motor Company
Sixteen of us were flown down to Chennai for the first round of the TVS YMRP 8.0. We entered the track at eight o’clock in the morning on Saturday and were welcomed by the thunderous sound of bikes flying past us. Goosebumps were guaranteed for anyone who was there to witness it in person. After drooling for a while, walking past all the cool bikes on the paddock, we made our way into our pit area and settled in.
After a quick briefing session by our trainer, Harry Sylvester, we were asked to collect our gear and suit up for the 20-minute practice session. After stretching and suiting up, I soon got on the bike and exited the pit-lane. In the practice session, I felt uncomfortable and couldn’t find a rhythm for the first 10 minutes. After a while, the feeling did get better and I went on to put some fast laps around the circuit.
At the end of that session, I pulled into the pits and checked my time. I had been able to achieve a personal best of 2:22:668, shaving two seconds off my earlier time. But I was only the sixth fastest, so I knew I had to put in more effort to qualify faster. After lunch, I rested for a bit, hydrated, and mentally prepared myself for the qualifying session at the end of the day.
In the meantime, the national championships were in full swing and we were witnessing riders storm past us at insane speeds. Soon enough, it was time for the last session of the day, our qualifying, and we all suited up. I pushed myself a lot more than the last time around and considerably reduced the number of my mistakes. After an energetic 15-minute session, all of us entered the pits once more and shut the engines off. I looked at the timing screen and found my name in fifth, with a time of 2:18:334, managing to shave off four seconds from my practice session time, although there was still a lot of catching up to do as the top two were doing 2:16. Anyway, all of us called it a day and went back to the hotel.
Fast forward 12-plus hours and it was Sunday morning. Our race was scheduled after lunch but was advanced to 9.40 am, a decision that I was grateful for, else the heat would have had a huge impact. The team bus dropped all of us at the racetrack and we made our way to the pit. I collected my gear, started warming up and stretching to feel better on the bike. At 9.10, I started to slowly suit up and head over to get the scrutiny done. After getting the “OK” stickers plastered all over my helmet and racing suit, I heard the siren go off, beckoning all riders out on to the track. We went to the start line, slowly warming up the tyres and brakes. We then had a formation lap followed by five race laps.
Standing on the track before the formation lap, I had a TVS Racing team official hold an umbrella for me, a small MotoGP grid rider sort of moment you could say. After a while, the “three minutes to go” board was shown and all the non-racers were ushered out of the track, soon followed by the “30 seconds to go” board and then the green flag was waved. I had a good start and used the formation lap to warm my tyres up. After completing the formation lap, we slotted in our positions again at the starting line and staring at us ahead was the “30 seconds to go” board. I am not sure how time went past for the rest of the racers, but for me the entire 30 seconds blew past in one. All the red lights came on and went out in unison and off we went.
I had a great start and quickly slotted in fourth by the first corner, but in the next corner I got dive-bombed and pushed back to seventh position. A mini panic attack later, I recovered and pushed in the next two corners and slowly regained two spots. The first two laps were an absolute dog fight with seven of us breaking away from the entire grid and battling it out. I could see Karan and Praveen further ahead, followed by Pratheek and Akaash, with Kaizad right alongside me. There was a point when the three of us were abreast at the kink after the third corner and I had to jump on the curb to get some space.
Around the third lap, the lead duo, Praveen and Karan, had got a slight advantage over the rest of us and moved ahead, with Akaash in third. I overtook the rest and was running in fourth, right on Akaash’s wheel. I tried my best to overtake but a small error near a right-hander on the fourth lap saw me go close and almost graze his rear wheel. I panic-braked and almost lost my front to a wobble. I had to put my legs out to balance the bike. After running wide and recovering, I was at least a second and a half behind third and soon crossed the finishing straight where the last lap signboard was shown.
I put my head down and gave it everything, late braking and exiting much faster, but I couldn’t make up for the deficit and had to roll home in fourth. I wouldn’t say I am satisfied because I went into the weekend wanting more than a fourth place. There are still two more rounds and if motor sport can teach us anything, it’s that anything can happen in the next race. So, keeping that in mind, I will prepare better and minimize losses the next time I am out on the track.
The TVS YMRP did not give me a race podium but it did give me a lot of experience, a new personal best time around the track (2:16:408), and a lot of connections. Looking forward to the next round now.
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