After Bollywood romanticised the two-wheeler thrill through the Dhoom series, GenNext perceived a motorcycle driver as a happy-go-lucky dare devil who lived blissfully in the fast lane. But as the real speed kings step down from the mean machines at the MRF Challenge, one notices their feet of clay and the sharp contrast they present with the stereotypes onscreen. Twenty-two-year old Chennai lad Dilip Roggers happens to be the most talented super biker in the country but he doesn’t have an attitude that one would relate to someone like, say, John Abraham. “I’m really frustrated with the motorcycle scene here. I am left alone on the road to nowhere,” he says, giving a glimpse of the vulnerability of the men who excel in this macho sport. Roggers has been winning the Malaysian National Super Bike Series for the last three years but still says there is no one in the country who cares about his skills. “I was thrilled to be hailed as the best Indian on the international scene but it all seems pointless. With no sponsors, there is no scope.”Roggers, who has invested more than Rs 1 crore in his motorcycling career, justifies his repeated appeals for financial aid. Roggers says: “I bought a Honda CBR (F41) 600 CC bike for Rs 5.5 lakhs and then spent around Rs 12 lakh more to modify it. I won the Malaysian Super Series after practising in Sepang for five months. The series had 12 races and each cost me Rs 1.5 lakh. In three years I spent about Rs 90 lakh,” informs Roggers. The engineering graduate who went to the UK in 2001 and trained at Silverstone just for one weekend, adds: “The support staff and hiring a Ducati 999S 1000cc cost me around Rs 50,000 for the weekend practice.” Then he went to Malaysia in 2004. “I knew I couldn’t have afforded to keep practicing in Britain.”Now Roggers hopes to land some kind of deal with MRF.
