Injury forces Sarath Kumar out of Suzuka race

Indian motorcycle racer Sarath Kumar made his race debut in the SuperSport 600 category of the Asia Road Racing Championship at the iconic Suzuka circuit in Japan this weekend. The 24-year old from Chennai, supported by Ten10 Racing and WOW Digit HK, took part in the Free Practice sessions on Friday and did well to qualify for the first race on Saturday, but finished last. With the knee that he had injured during pre-season testing hurting, the team decided to rest him for the second race on Sunday rather than risk aggravating the injury.

“I have a seven-week break before the fourth round in Indonesia (August 6-7) and I am confident that I will be fully fit again. I thank Team Honda, Ten10 Racing and WOW Digit HK for all the support and encouragement. I am happy that at least I qualified for the first race and made my debut,” said Sarath who had missed the first round in Malaysia and could not race in the second in Thailand.

Ten10 Racing’s Managing Director Ramji Govindarajan said: “Sarath qualified for Race 1 despite a lot of pain. The race was red flagged halfway through and turned out to be a five-lap shootout which worked to his advantage as he managed to complete his first race in ARRC SS600.

“The team T Pro Yuzy Honda NTS with WOW helped him to get on the grid and encouraged him a lot. Sarath had to fight lot of pain and had to be helped to get off the bike at the end of Race 1. Given the situation, our target was for him to qualify and take part in the races. To this end, we are quite happy, and hopefully, he will recover fully for the next round in Indonesia in August.”