Indian riders have good outings in practice sessions

: Indian riders, Rajiv Sethu and Anish Damodara Shetty, had fairly satisfactory outings during the three practice sessions as the fourth round of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship got underway at the MMRT track at Sriperumbudur near here today.

Competing in the Asia Production 250cc class, the Idemitsu Honda Racing India team-mates, Sethu and Shetty, though off the pace by about three seconds, did generate hopes of strong results over the next two days when they go through the qualifying session followed by two races.

Bengaluru-based Shetty, in his debut season in the championship, was quicker than Sethu of Chennai in two of the three sessions with a best of 01:51.2. The Chennai youngster finished the day clocking 01:51.5.

The quickest rider in the AP 250cc class was championship leader Rheza Danica Ahrens (Indonesia), winner of four the six races over three rounds so far and whose best over three sessions was a 01:48.03.

Meanwhile, the premier SuperSport 600cc class saw an action-packed session.

Two-time champion Md Zaqhwan Zaidi, the 23-year-old Malaysian, posted the quickest timing of the day with a blistering 01:41.306 on his Honda, ahead of championship leader Anthony West (Australia), riding the Yamaha.

In the other practice sessions, Aravind Balasubramaniam topped the time sheets in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup organised by MMSC (CBR250), clocking 02:02.205, while Yashas RL was the quickest in the TVS RR310 One-Make Championship with 02:02.4.

Malaysian Md Akid Aziz on a Yamaha took the top spot in the Underbone 150 qualifying with a 01:51.970.