Indian teenager Rakshith Dave wins double after stunning debut at Malaysia SBK
Aug 22, 2023
Sepang [Malaysia], August 22 : Chennai teenager Rakshith Dave made a stunning debut in the Malaysian Superbike Championship 2023 with a double victory in the first round at Sepang.
Astride a Honda CBR250RR, Rakshith won both the races in his class in the Malaysia SBK 250cc category (B Class), also making his debut at the famed MotoGP circuit, the Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur. Rakshith also bagged the ‘Week-end Warrior Trophy’ in the MSBK 250 B Race category.
Riding for CRA Motorsports, he qualified second in his class. Rakhith started P11 on the combined grid, for the three classes, in both the races. After taking a good start, he had a facile lights-to-flag victory in Race 1 but had to fight all his way in the second race. Rakshith was steady in his position and managed his pace throughout the race and won a tight Race 2 brushing aside the challenge from Izrul and Huan Ni as he regained his lead twice.
He won both the races in his class clocking 20 minutes, 52:611 seconds in Race 2 and 20:52.433 in Race 1. In the combined Overall grid for the three classes, he finished P7 in Race 1 and P10 in Race 2.
Rakshith, who turned 15 on August 8, said: “It was a really good race although the start was not that great. But I managed to put on a good fight to stay in the momentum. I thank my team and crew who have worked really hard for this weekend and I hope to achieve many more results like this in time to come.”
Rakshith made his debut at the Madras International circuit in 2020 after he was selected for the Honda India Talent Cup and took a podium in his very first race. In the next two years he scored many victories and podiums and graduated to NSF 250 class and went on to take part in the inaugural MiniGP India series in 2022 and finished Overall fourth.
The MSBK championship comprises six races to be run over three rounds at the same venue in Sepang. Round 2 is scheduled from September 8 to September 10 and the concluding round is from December 15 to December 17.
