Indian motorcyclist Jagan to start at fourth

An inexperienced Indian motorcycling team came up with a creditable show with Jagan Kumar and Deepak Ravikumar finishing fourth and eighth, respectively in the ST 150 class in the qualifying race of the 11th Yamaha ASEAN Cup 2014 here today.
Jagan clocked a best lap time of 2:03.253, while Deepak had a fastest timing of 2:03.835 under wet conditions at the Sentul International Circuit which was lashed by rain just before the start of the qualifying race.
25-year-old Jagan was occupying ninth position before he did his best lap time in his 10th and final lap. He will start at the second row in the grid in the final race tomorrow, while 27-year-old Deepak will be at the third row.

The third Indian in the fray in the ST 150 class, Padmanabhan finished 18th in the 22-rider field with a best lap time of 2:07.148 and he will start in the sixth row.
The top three in today's qualifying -- Rheza Danica (Indonesia), Ahmad Syukran bin Mohd Yusof (Malaysia) and Handy Tuahatu (Indonesia) -- will start in the first row.
It was, however, a bad day for Rajini Krishnan in the ST 250 class, the lone Indian in the fray in that category, as he could barely complete a lap before his bike developed a problem in Electronic Control Unit (ECU). He will start at the back in the fifth and last row in the final race tomorrow.

Ironically, Rajini will be in the same row as two-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo of Spian, a Yamaha Factory Racing team member, who will take part in the event for an exhibition race.

An upbeat Jagan said he would look for a podium finish.
"We have a chance to be at the podium tomorrow. I am happy about my position at the qualifying today and will do my best tomorrow," Jagan said after his race.
"It was a wet track but I have raced under similar conditions earlier. So, I was not worried about it," Jagan, who had finished second in Japan in 2012 as the best in his career, said.

Asked what differently did he do in his last lap to sneak into the fourth spot, Jagan said, "I told myself I will overtake the rider in front of me. So, I pushed hard.