After top-10 high, Rajiv settles for 12th position; Senthil crashes out

ADELAIDE: India's Rajiv Sethu couldn't repeat his Race 1 performance on the concluding day of the Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) on Sunday as the Honda Racing team's rider managed a 12th-place finish in the Race 2 of the ARRC's second round at the Bend Motorsport Park here.
Another Honda India rider, Chandrasekaran Senthil, opted out in the first lap itself of the 10-lap race after his Honda CBR 250CC developed a technical snag as he headed back to his pit lane.The race was run in the 'Asia production 250 class'. During the Race 1 on Saturday, Rajiv had produced his ARRC's career best-ever performance, recording a 10th-place finish. Senthil, too, had a decent outing with a 17th-place finish. However, the luck didn't favour the two Indian superbikers on a cloudy and cold Sunday morning.
Rajiv, who started in the 12th position on the grid, immediately dropped down to the 15th position but made recovery in the third lap to rise up to the 11th position. He did well to overtake Viet Nam Coe and Muhammad Faerozi Toreqottullah to close in on another top-10 finish. Rajiv was able to maintain his 11th spot till the eighth lap before conceding the lead to Toreqottullah to finish 12th.
"The start was good for me. The plan was to stay calm, wait for the opportunity to move to the front and then plan accordingly. It was disappointing that I couldn't finish in the front batch. But the good part was that I recorded my fastest lap time in the ARRC," Rajiv said.