Jinendra and Prajwal perform to their best at Srilanka.
Two Indian riders perform to their best at the Colombo Supercross in Srilanka, in spite of limited practise on a rainy day and slushy track. It was other side of the coin for both the riders, who were participating for the first time. They had very limited time to get used to the lengthier track, as the jumps were long and had to be taken above 4th gear, handling jump at high speed was an issue. As back home we never find a track to go beyond third gear. The 1.8kms track was the lengthiest which they would have experienced. The two riders 9 years old Jinendra Sangave from Kolhapur and 13 years old V Prajwal from Bengaluru represented India in the under 12 and under 15 years category.
The two riders who were used to KTM 65 and 85 cc bikes respectively, were provided complementary bikes in Srilanka to participate.
Prajwal finished 7th in the three lap race from the grid of 11, riding on a Yamaha YZ 85 cc. Jinendra was on a Kawasaki 65cc, initially he was running third in the first few corners, had a crash and he dropped back to 8th position in the grid of 11 for the 3 lap race.
"We had a limited practise, as the schedule was four days before the race. Due to schooling had to compromise, but taking jumps on high speeds was never in our culture and hence it took time to get used. As we have known the track now, shall be more confident next race." said V Prajwal."The long jumps with the smaller CC vehicle with no proper practise was an major issue, had nice experience on the bigger track, as the track was little slippery had a fall and was unable to catchup. Getting used to the vehicle took some time." said Jinendra Sangave .