ARRC Round 4: An Adrenaline-fuelled Concoction Of Crashes And Victories!

Journalist Hunter S Thompson once said: “Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.” I couldn’t relate more to this quote after I witnessed the adrenaline-fuelled action in last weekend’s competition at the Madras Motor Race Track. It was the fourth round in the 23rd edition of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC). 64 riders from Asia and Oceania prove their mettle in this intense 6-round championship.

For this event, Honda formed India’s first racing team, Idemitsu Honda Racing India team by T Pro Ten10. ARRC has three classes: Underbone 150cc (UB150), Asia Production 250cc (AP250) and Super Sport 600cc (SS600). Indian riders Rajiv Sethu and Anish Shetty competed in the AP250 category while Japanese Taiga Hada fought in the SS600 class. The race series took place over a period of three days - Free practice on 3 August, qualifying practice and race 1 on the fourth and race 2 on the fifth. Before we go into the intricacies of the race event, let’s talk about the motorcycles. The Indian team had Honda CBR250RR race-spec motorcycles competing in the AP250 category while Taiga Hada was riding a race-spec Honda CBR600RR. Winning in the ARRC will give the riders an avenue to compete in other, more competitive, coveted races like the CEV (Spanish National Championship), then MotoGP series or the WSBK series. What Honda has done through its Indian team is create a roadmap for young riders to help them make a name for themselves in global two-wheeled motorsport.

The motorcycles and their technicians:

A lot of work has gone into modifying the two motorcycles to extract the maximum amount of performance. The CBR250RR’s engine gets high-performance valves, race-spec ECU, sprockets, an additional oil cooler to enhance the performance of the engine, race-spec advanced Showa front forks with steering damper, race-spec custom fibreglass bodywork for optimal aerodynamics, Dunlop tyres and the likes.

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The CBR250RR bikes are taken care of by Indian technicians. The two bikes get one dedicated technician each and the CBR600RR is handled by two Japanese technicians, all from the Ten10 team. The Japanese have a much more technical, disciplined approach when it comes to troubleshooting and looking over the motorcycle’s conditions. Honda has made sure the Indian mechanics get to learn from the Japanese guys so that their skills are honed for much more efficient work. Once their skills have improved, Honda Ten10 is planning to give them the responsibility of taking care of the 600cc superbikes, probably in the next season.

The race days (Race 1):

The qualifying practice took place in the morning of August 4. In the AP250 class, Indians Rajiv Sethu and Anish Shetty managed to have a decent run, taking the 19th and 20th position respectively. Rajiv finished the race with a best time of 1:51.177 minutes on the 3rd lap, while on the same lap, Anish took 1:51.734 minutes. Indonesian Rheza Danica Ahrens from Astra Honda Racing Team was the fastest, with a best time of 1:47.952. In the SS600, Taiga Hada qualified 6th in the grid with the fastest lap time of 01:41.384.

Race 1 commenced in the afternoon, with the AP250 class starting before the SS600. Rheza maintained his pace for almost throughout the race and finished first, with a best time of 1:48.148 minutes. Rajiv started from 19 and slowly clawed his way to 13th position, scoring three points (points are awarded up to the 15th place for a race) with a best time of 1:50.945 minutes. Anish Shetty unfortunately suffered from a highside in the 7th lap, which prevented him from finishing the race. Apart from a minor toe injury the rider was fine, and was fit enough for the next day’s race. His motorcycle, though, suffered damages to the handlebars, fairing and the levers. After the race day, the motorcycle was fixed perfectly in about five hours! That speaks volumes about the Indian technicians' efficiency!

The SS600 category witnessed intense action with Taiga Hada starting from 6th on the grid and fighting his way to the first position by the second lap itself! Veteran Australian rider Anthony West, riding the Yamaha YZF-R6, was fifth at that time, hotly pursuing Malaysian rider Zaqhwan Zaidi. Hada had to fight not only West and Zaidi, but also Tomoyoshi Koyama from Japan and Andi Farid from Indonesia. Lap after lap, Hada’s pace slowed down and the intense competition visibly took a toll on his focus. Consequently, West finished first, with Zaidi 0.325 seconds behind him, followed by Hada at the third place with a gap of 1.256 seconds. Winning 16 points in race 1, Hada had a total of 40 points and was in top 7 of the championship.

Race 2:

On a hot and a humid sunday afternoon, the AP250 class riders lined up for the final battle. Rajiv was 19th on the grid, followed by Anish. For the Indonesian Rheza, the previous race was his fifth consecutive win in the class and he was surely a force to recon with. However, racing being the unpredictable sport it is, he low-sided at the final lap in race 2, and was pushed to 17th at the finish. Though Anish started the race from 20th, he only finished one position ahead, whereas Rajiv climbed to the 16th place, just about missing a point.

Rajiv Sethu said, “Chennai was my home ground so winning my first point here made it all the more special. While I scored in Race 1 with first ever points, the mechanical issue with the bike from the start, plagued me till the end of today’s race. It was really difficult to push hard today. The race may be over, but the championship is on. And now, after recovery I want to continue to earn points in the next round in Indonesia in October. Before that, this weekend will be about consolidating leadership in Super Sport class of National championship”.

The SuperSport 600 witnessed even crazier action! Hada started 6th on the grid. As the laps went by, the battle between Anthony West, Zaqhwan Zaidi and Hada heated up. However, being an ex-MotoGP rider, Anthony surged ahead with a generous 3-second lead on Zaidi in lap 8. By lap 10, Hada was hot on Anthony’s heels but even then Anthony had a comfortable lead of 4.020 seconds. By the end of the race, Anthony left all his competitors to dust, leaving behind the Japanese Tomoyoshi Koyama in the second place with a massive difference of 7.083 seconds! Hada finished third in this race too, followed by Zaidi in the fourth place. Hada also recorded the second fastest lap time of the race, taking 1:41.330 minutes. Overall, Hada had a well-fought podium as he survived the relentless onslaught of the Australian, his fellow Japanese and the Malaysian.

However, the most dramatic incident was Yamaha rider Yuki Ito’s finishing. He was in the top five in the final lap. However, as luck would have it, he high-sided at the last corner! Quickly recovering from the shock, driven by competitive fervour, he picked up his battered motorcycle and tried to soldier on. His rear tyre was deflated, and the engine wouldn’t start. He decided to push his motorcycle to the finish line. The push seemed to be agonisingly eternal for the Japanese rider as he was exerting his body with all his might. He finally finished 16th with a time difference of 2:46.926, welcomed by a thundering cheer from the crowd. What a sight to behold, and what a way to end the epic championship round!