Rajini Brings Double Podium Finishes In 2017 Malaysian Superbike Championship

India’s veteran superbike racer, Rajini Krishnan has once again garnered impressive results at the Malaysian Superbike Championship in its 2017 edition this weekend. Representing his team RACR in the superbike category, he was accompanied by Dinesh Kumar in the 250cc category. Rajini was able to qualify at the third position and went on to secure a second position finish in the first race.

Dedicating his podium finish to late Ashwin Sunder (former Indian National Racing Champion), who passed away on March 18, 2017 in a tragic accident along with his wife, Rajini said, “ It's a sad day for the motorsports as we lost one of our elite fellow racers Ashwin in a fatal road accident early this morning!!!! I dedicate my 2nd place podium finish today in Race 1 of Pirelli Malaysia Superbike Championship 2017 Round 1 to him. RIP my friend this one’s for you......”

In the 250cc open class, things didn’t look as promising for Dinesh Kumar as the rider crashed once in the race, but was able to finish at ninth position. Kumar qualified ninth due to some issues with his bike. However, he quickly rose to the fourth position until he had a crash in the ninth lap at the second corner, ultimately forcing himself towards the hind part of the grid and an eventual ninth place finish.

In the second race, Rajini started at the third place and led the pack for 16 laps. Though, he fell prey to a small issue with the quick shifter of his bike and had to settle for a third position finish. Notably, Rajini was riding a 2014 Kawasaki ZX-10R as opposed to the more advanced 2016 ZX-10R, which he straddled in the 2016 season. The former had a totally different setup from the bike that he used last year. Clearly, the lack of funding has affected the results of the race, something which is quite common in motorsport as better funded teams have access to better equipment and consequently a better race machine. A common example is Mercedes in F1 which is a tad bit superior in technology than Ferrari because of the funding it has, and we are quite familiar with the standings of both the teams.

Things got a little brighter for Dinesh Kumar in the second race as despite starting from ninth position, he was able to finish the race in the second position.