Starting grid

After qualifying in the intermediate Stunner class in the fourth round, I was looking forward to the fifth round of the Sidvin National Motorcycle Racing Championship. And with the championship taking a two month break before the final round, I started working out afresh with alarming regularity. And the results did show as I started shedding weight. But the fifth round was not a piece of cake offered to me on a silver plate! Heavy rains greeted me at Chennai airport. The rains dampened my spirits, but the fact that I had qualified in three rounds consecutively bolstered my confidence. The R15 novice class qualifying session was the first. Fingers crossed, I went out and put in the laps on a wet track without thinking about my timings. Several corners were still wet, and the last corner which has always been my favourite had its apex flooded with water. Next was the qualifying session for the Twister class. Having gone out on the faster R15 in the wet had definitely helped me feel more confident. And when I went out on the smaller, lesser powerful Twister with skinnier tyres I was more confident. At the end of the day, my joy knew no bounds when I got to know that I qualified 13th for a grid of 20 in the Twister class! My lap times were slower than the previous round, but blame that on the wet track. And 13th place out of 60 riders I felt was sure commendable. Time to celebrate then? Not yet. Pretty much to my surprise I qualified in the R15 class as well