After qualifying in P9 I had made it all the way up to P5, even before the first corner of the Kari Motor Speedway. It was an ace start and over the years, good race starts are something which have earned me the ‘little rocket’ nametag. Today though, the little rocket would have a really hard time competing because he was up against 12 highly competitive motor-noters from around the country. Forget defending, three laps in and he would go down and wouldn’t even see the chequered flag. Yes, I had my first crash at the 2024 KTM RC Cup and it wasn’t fun. More on that later. But the two and a half laps that I was rubber side down, when I was giving it my all, were nothing short of incredible.
I’ve always wanted to ride the KTM 390 RC on a racetrack because this bike just begs to be pushed to the limit. Introduced in India nearly a decade ago, the RC siblings have found thousands of homes across the country because of their bang-for-buck quotient and forgiving nature. They’re a blast for newbies and even seasoned folks, and look like proper poster bikes. I know many KTM owners who’ve become excellent riders over the years, because they’ve learnt so much on the riding front while exploiting their machines. And with the RC Cup now, KTM India is giving them a chance to prove their mettle and race professionally on track. Introduced last year, in 2023, as a part of KTM’s Pro XP endeavour, the RC Cup is India’s largest motorcycle racing championship. This year, the championship was divided into three categories — Pro, Amateur and Women — with participants competing on stock KTM 390 RC GP edition motorcycles. For us auto-journos though, KTM had curated a special ‘media’ class. Guess who was invited!
Over 860 individuals, including 200 women, participated in the selection rounds held in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Coimbatore for the 2024 KTM RC Cup, but only the top 66 made it to the qualifiers. These riders were joined by 36 pro riders who were eligible to compete if they placed in the top 20 in the previous KTM Cup season, participated in the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC) or any other one make championship recognised by the FMSCI over the last three years. Seven-time Indian National Motorcycle Racing champion and founder of Gusto Racing, Emmanuel Jebaraj and KTM Cup Race director (and ex-MotoGP racer), Jeremy McWilliams trained all participants in the qualifiers. After the qualifiers, only 15 riders from each category made their way to the finale.
What an epic finale it was. Firstly, the venue. The Kari Motor Speedway is a technical track and as a result witnesses a lot of close racing action. While the pros are on a different level altogether, even the amateur and women riders put on a good show. Ann Jennifer came out on top in the Women’s category, followed by Lani Jena Fernandez and Tanisha Arora in P2 and P3 respectively. The Amateur category was won by Adam Feroz Backer with Mohammed Yosuf in second place and Shashanka Sharma rounding off the podium. And finally, multiple national champion Rahil Pillarisetty took top honours in the Pro category, ahead of Abhishek Vasudev and Kayan Zubin Patel. The winners – Shetty, Jennifer, and Backer – will compete in the KTM Academy of Speed track day in Austria later this year and they will also get to practise with previous MotoGP champions and KTM Pro instructors, including Jeremy McWilliams. How’s that for the ultimate prize!
Watching all these extremely talented folks making the RC 390s dance like ballerinas made me weak in the knees. Thankfully, KTM had paired each one of us journos with a team leader and I was lucky to have received a few tips from Abhishek Vasudev before I went out. In the qualifying for the main race I had to get acquainted with the motorcycle, but that took no time because the RC 390 is almost a race bike even in stock avatar. Its low-set clip-on handlebar, rear-set footpegs and light weight urge you to push hard right from the get go. Our RC 390s were shod with CEAT SportRad tyres which provided immense grip. The qualifying session went well, but I knew that I could’ve done better. As a result I qualified in P9 on the grid of 13 riders. Now, the goal was to finish in the top five, which honestly was achievable.
However, fate had other plans. Soon after I moved up to P5 in the final race, I started feeling the pressure from riders behind. At the end of lap two, I had dropped down to P6 and was ready to put up a fight against the rider ahead of me. But mid-way through the third lap, on the entry of the infamous ‘Mickey Mouse’ section of the track, the rider following me came in too hot on the inside (left side) and hit my shoulder. He took me out, following which the race had to be red flagged. I was taken back to the pits in an ambulance and after a quick check, was confirmed to have a major muscle pull which caused a swelling on my left arm. Sadly, that’s how I had to (not) finish the race.
Each and every part of racing can turn out to be a big life lesson for those who get a chance to experience it, even crashing, and the 2024 KTM RC Cup was an eye-opener for me. My crash taught me to pick myself up and get back stronger than before. Improving and becoming a better version of myself is something which I’m looking forward to next and that’s exactly what every racer tries to do. Afterall, life is all about gripping it and ripping it every time you get behind the ’bars. 2025 season, here I come.