Mangalorean who is a software Engineer at Accenture and follows his passion of riding in his free time has won the most of cross-country and Nations in duke 390. In conversation with Samarth, this is what he had to say
Tel us about your accomplishment
“I have been professionally rallying, racing in adventuring trails since 2010, so in these beautiful years of motorsport – I have been able to win and loose multiple races.
I am pleased to say I am almost the hand full of ride’s in India to have won Desert storm, India Baja, Dakshin Dare (Multi), Indian National Rally, Indian National Sprint rally, Big rock Time trail, SJOBA Rally, Raid De Himalaya and many more on a Custom Built KTM 390 by KHIVRAJ MOTORS and LIQUIMOLY with the help of Speedo bikes Kumar. “
Tell us more about few of the experience you would cherishing your riding carrier wins?
“Few wins stay close to our heart’s and one such is desert Storm rally which runs in the state of Delhi-Rajasthan for close to 2000 Km in 5 days testing the endurance of Man and machine – Sustainability is the keen for both man and machine when tested against time, Trail and temperature!
Temperature cross 50 degree and the dunes and terrain throwing maximum possible difficulties for the bike but it’s a challenge well accepted by the rally riders.
First time I was in desert was in 2017 with loads of confidence, as I had few national wins to backing me up, but it all broke along with my right elbow when I crashed, and my bike flipped and landed on me.
An injury always sets you back in many ways; it first breaks your confidence, makes you doubt yourself. It questions your own ability? A failure is not well accepted by the society in general.
You get lot of unsolicited advice. You get questioned, you get dependent on others, frustration creeps into you, slowly the negative energy starts to get better of you.
It’s these times you start questioning yourself. “IS IT WORTH IT? “. Its never easy recovering from an injury and getting back on a bike.
Times like these you think about legend’s in motorsports like Aravind KP and CS Santosh who get back on the bikes every single time n my injury suddenly looks so small.
It’s Just an elbow fracture when they got back with Hip reconstruction and 3rd degree burns n Aishwarya pissey who had fatal crash in Spain n went on to win the women world championship
It was my birthday when I came back home from desert storm with a broken elbow – Sling bag was my trophy and birthday gift from desert
Condition in desert is different, bike must be set up differently .so got back on preparing the bike and hit the desert again in 2018 – was leading the class and stood 5th overall and the bike broke down- I had a seized engine, it literally got fried and almost everything in the engine broke and like you know full engine rebuild for race is extremely costly affair .
My desert quest and dream ended but the best part was no injuries to me . after me failing once in bike failing the second time it was time to get the trophy home.
Khivraj motors in Bangalore rebuilt my engine and liquimoly gave the 10w-60 Engine oil and RF 12 Coolant and fuel additive to help engine perform in extreme high temperature and demanding condition.
We were prepared and took on the desert and won the Group B factory class in 2019. In the end it’s the best feeling to get what you been chasing – it would not have been possible without all the support I got from my sponsors and friends and family- riding is the final creamy layer, its lot of effort from so many unsung heroes behind the scene who actually enable you to ride and it takes a big heart to see your dream in other persons success and I must say I have one of the best team and people supporting me.
Lot of time and energy goes in a rally bike and rally preparation and it’s the close set of people who enable you to do what you love the most !
Raid De Himalaya – is rally which I cherish – I crashed on day 3 when I was leading my category very close to 200 feet cliff hanging on to my dear life at the very edge giving me the first hand feeling of cliff hanger movie. Lol.
I got back on my bike with help of next rider rihan bhai and completed the stage of 72 KM without crossing the MPL (fastest time set by cs and 60 Min added to it) – which still surprises me, Adrenalin maybe.
Post that we had to rider 254 Km to Pang from Kaza – I had a medical examination post the stage and the doctor said I had a Tibia fracture , I still took my chances and rode 254 Km to pang hoping to start next day with a pain killer I can take start because its lot of effort to get to the rally and you would want to give your best , thinking of which looks so foolish today . I was admitted at the Pang military camp n the doctor said “This civilian patient is no not fit to ride this rally “.latter I was awarded the Shubmoi Paul trophy making me not a complete looser. thanks to the officials of Raid de Himalaya for all the hospitality and sumera for picking me up from hospital.
Why the duke 390? Do you plan to rider the Adv 390 next? Which Adv would you suggest?
It’s a very good deal you get from the single cylinder 373 pumping 43 BHP and 37 NM torque. it’s a pocket rocket n Race dynamic from Bangalore with the custom Piggyback ECU helps me get few more BHP and the barrel exhaust gives me the much-needed Free flow exhaust making a powerful machine and yet so easy on the pocket.
Back in 2013 when I tested the 390 it was way ahead of the market and i was blown. When Vishwas SD from south and Mohit Verma from north got it for rally is when I started thinking about the 390 duke in 2014 I was in the start line along with them and never switched to any other bike.
Talking about the adventure 390 – market now is good for the adventure bikes with RE Himalayan and Hero Xpulse storming the market – with present Indian road we definitely need better suspension bike because it’s no less than an adventure riding on the streets. Rode or no rode it’s the adv that will take you home safe. Still need to test the Adv – Speculation is rally kit will be out from the hero and the KTM as well. So, its choice to make for the best machine. I am very happy to see the move from the automobile company taking rally concept and launching the Rally edition of suspension in the market.
Scope of rally in India
Rally is fast catching up with people. We have so many rallies in India, it’s hard to make time to ride so many events.
We have international participants coming to India to ride rally, We had hero and TVS get the entire team of Dakar rally riders to India.
We have in-house Dakar athlete like Aravind KP, CS Santosh and Harith Noah, Current Word women Rally champion is Aishwarya Pissay from India.
Ashish rorane is another privateer who is doing many international rally consistently the list just goes on with so many motorsport athlete like Jatin Jain, R Natraj, Rajendra and tanveer getting trained internationally and doing international rally.
We have two Factory team TVS- SHERCO, HeroMotoCorp and Adam Riemann came to India to promote Adventure 390. Makes me happy to see the sport grow so well. many riders are sponsored.
If you look at the safety standards of the rider is international. we have so many biker stores like 6KIOM ,Scott and Alpinestar selling top notch riding equipment to riders in India .Events like Dakar moving so close to India has excited talent in India to look at Dakar possibilities. Rally is the trend now just hoping the Management at the automobile industries look at promoting talent like how their counterpart is promoting. Eg – KTM has a rally team and bajaj in india is not supporting rally so when this changes we can expect lot of things to change.
We have Motorsport recognized as a sport and ministry is looking into it more seriously n current sports minister Kiren Rijju is working closely with FMSCI is very positive growth , Its all on the horizon and slowly but surely its all changing for good