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Journalism of Courage
Imagine shifting ones’ base—India to Malaysia in this case—to pursue his passion: Racing. Meet Dilip Rogger, 23, of Chennai, who became the first Indian biker to race full time in an international series in 2005 and is also the country’s first Asian GP participant.
Having experienced the Malaysian Super Series, which is seriously run by Petronas Yamaha team, Dilip on Sunday was several notches higher than his rivals in the 600cc Super Bikes category run as part of the J K Tyre National Racing Championship 2008 at the MMS Track in Irrungattukottai, near Sriperumbudur.
With just Preetham Dev Moses—who like Dilip has raced abroad—as the nearest challenger there was no stopping Dilip who topped in both races in the category. Consider this: the margin between Dilip, who rode a Yamaha R6, and Preetam who drove a ‘stock’ bike was a whopping 12.6s!
If Dilip was miles ahead, his city-mates Ashwin Sundar and Saran Vikram delighted the weekend crowd winning a race each in both Formula Swift and Formula Rolon classes.
Pole leader and last year’s champion Ashwin (Team TVS Girling Racing) continued from where he had left off last year in the Swift category, but when it came to the reverse order grid it was Saran (WSRF with Leela) who made himself up from fifth position.
In the Formula Rolon it was Ashwin again, before Saran turned tables in Race Two. Among all categories, both Ashwin and Saran were the only ones to figure in the Top-3 in three races out of four.
