Article in vanitha

Trichur Race

Day before trichur race.. My bike lost its compression. I tried my best to increase it but the engine performance was bad. I did a parallel run with one of the novice bikes, i lost with him in straight line. I was depressed. Why these things always happens to me. I decided to bore a new piston in to the kit in the evening. Me and my friends finished setting it up late night. Race day, i was expecting a bad day. My bike has a new piston which is not set and how can i ride it with out the piston being set. My friends told me that they saw Jinan guiding the committee to put the trace, i was expecting a track with very less corners. When i reach there , i was the track was a flow track where you can  ride easily by shifting gears. The terrain was very tough. Track has lot of dips. I did a trail. First lap went good , second lap my piston ceased. Bad luck again. I put some extra oil so that it will not cease again. Heats went good. Professional finals, Jinan go the start I was behind him. It was a 6 lap race. I didn't opened the bike too much because i thought my piston will cease again. I was watching jinan. He was riding defencive. He was busy blocking me in the corners. After lap 3 i decided to open my bike. A corner after a straight , i easily passed him , Then i decided to push harder because any way i am taking a risk. My bike can cease at any point . So better blast it. Lap 4,5,6 Jinan was behind me. I know he cannot beat me because i was faster than him in all the corners. He was not able to take the advantage of his 3rd gear because the track also. Final lap ,i was confident i can beat him. Last straight , one more corner to go. i was on my second gear full throttle. I tried to shift to 3rd , i got a false neutral, i tried again , my third gear was not engaging. I got upset. i know jinan has already put 3rd gear. All i can do was to hold on to my second gear till the corner. Jinan was just behind. Since i was at the limit of the second gear , i took tie for me to control my bike in the last corner. Jinan passed me in the last corner. I placed 2nd. Every body told me that i should have blocked him. But my mind was not in a mood to block. Because i never block , i blast.

Kandanissery – Race

Motogp track for an autocross. The track was made by jinan , for jinan. He did a high sprocket so that he can leverage this 3^rd gear. The surface was dry mud. Dry dust was a major problem since the guy in the back will not be able see any thing. There was not much riders. I don’t know what jinan want to prove , i was put in the heats with him. There was no start gate; the start was a flag start. Flags up, Jinan got the start, I was just behind him, the track was designed as an outer ring with very less corners. Jinan’s bike was flying in 3^rd gear. But since his bike has a higher sprocket, 1^st and 2^nd gears of the bike was a flop. That was the reason he designed the track like that. After lap one I 

was able to close him. I was not in a mood to overtake. I was enjoying my ride with him. Wide corner after the long straight , I was so close and both of out bikes were parallel. Heats finished. I was confident. Professional finals, I know start is important. I was expecting a push from him so that he can take a lead. The guy with the flag started counting .. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. I didn’t hear the word “GO” , jinan and santhosh took off. I waited for a second. No body is bothered to call them back. I took off. I never expected such a behavior from jinan. He was desperate to win, but jump start is not the right choice. I palced 2^nd.

Kakoor - Race

Another bad race. I liked the track , it was a technical track . It matched my style and i was happy doing my trails. Heats went good . There was not much professional riders so after heats it was finals. Before finals i asked afzal to take a start with me. It was a long straight and i just wanted to test by gear ratios. Both our bikes went at the same pace. Novice finals, siddique one of my friends broke his bike in the novice semi. I know what it feels to a guy when his bike is broke. I offered him my bike. Novice finals , siddique got a good start but was unable to control my bike, he lost his control in a corner and my bikes clutch lever and break pedal got bend. He did'nt finished the race. Professional finals, i was busy correcting the problems, i had to change the brake set to solve it. I got called 3 times and i every one was ready for a start. Gates down , me on my first gear , before i can shift afsal pushed me to aside. I know why he did it , he too can expect the same from me. I was pushed to 4th. Lap one , i know that i have to over take varun and afazl to catch Jinan. Varun was busy to keep his position safe. He nither want to overtake afzal nor he wanted me to overtake him. I hate this kind of attitude. Race is about attacking an opponent , not to compramise. I know i had to take some risk to overtake him. I tried the outer line on lap 2. In the corner after the long straight , i was on the outer line and varun on the inner , technically he has more advantage , but i know if i can out run him in my speed i can pass him . I did'nt cut the throttle in the corner , half way through all i can see is an audian standing in the track at the outer line. Direct hit. I dont know what happened to him but my front wheel got loose. I didnt finish.....

After a one day practice on the track i figured out that the track need a bikes which should get open in a higher rpm. I opt for a high ported cyclinder. By choosing this, the bike opens at a higher rpm. In corners i can de clutch and reach a particular power band. 

Arattupuzha - Race

After a bad season start it was really tough for me to regain my confidence. But i think i did it. I build my bike from ground up again. This time i changed from my original setup. My aim was to setup a bike which will not cease. I went for a medium ported cylinder and  original electronics. I did a test ride in the track and bike was good. A mild change in my carburetor tune made it better. I was able to complete a lap in 57 sec. Race day , it was an important race for me and i was prepared. All the heats went good. There was not much competition in the heats. I know it will be tough in the finals. My plan was to attack Jinan from behind. And i was prepared for it. Flags down , and i took off. Afzal got a good start. I think his bike has good pickup and torque. I hate torque. The more the torque the more the bike will skid. Afzal lost his front wheel in a turn , and i passed him , Jinan too passed him. I was not prepared to ride in front of Jinan, i know it was my fault , but my plan was to attack Jinan. Lap three i made a mistake in a zig zag corner after a long straight. I was in second gear and i was a bit late to put 3rd and open my bike. Jinan took advantage of this. He was in gear 3 already. He easily passed me. Now it was according to my plan . I admit that Jinan has better stamina than me . It was an 8 lap race and i thought i should reserve my energy for the last lap. I revamped my strategy to attack him and take some risk in the last lap. The competition was really interesting and it was neck to neck. It was  long time since i  raced with that much energy and enthusiasm. Last lap , i got two slipped gears and he pulled a little more away from me. When you are riding with one of the best riders , mistakes count and i didn't had any more laps with me to take a chance. I had a good time racing. I know i have some disadvantages which will be corrected. I again congratulate Jinan for riding the race with lesser mistakes. It's really a skill which can only be learned by experience. Beating Jinan on track is not easy , but again i don't like easy competition 

Parur - Race

Season 2009 , my expectations where high. A chance to compete with Jinan again and to benchmark myself. But my thirteen got unlucky again. It not 'again' it's 'again and again and again'.

My bike's crank went off two days before the race. My magnet broke when i doing my trials the day before the race. My magnet was modified and it was a critical part of my bike setup. I had to put an ordinary magnet which upsets my bike setup. My bike lost it strength in higher rpm. I thought i will make it ready at night. When i was on my way to a friend workshop near by, i was picked up by highway patrol. They where not ready to leave me and at last i had to go to the station and pay them a fine. My friend in Ernakulam rectified up my bike. He put his own cylinder block which was modified to occupy a larger piston . i was really satisfied with the bike' s performance when i left his workshop. But fate has other plans for me. Race day , two laps of high rpm trials , my cylinder sleeve went off. My bike got broke again. Then i realized its not my day. Somebody had an old cylinder which i put in my bike and i placed 5th. Bad start for a season  .... will see . It's not the end of the world!