Rajini Krishnan's Race Bike Sabotaged During Final Round Of National Racing Championship In Delhi

9 time National Champion Rajini Krishnan's race bike was sabotaged during the final round of the National Racing Championship in Delhi.

Updated: Monday, November 20, 2017, 14:16 [IST]

Nine-time National Champion Rajini Krishnan's race bike was sabotaged during the final round of the National Racing Championship. The shocking incident occurred at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC), the nation's only F1-compatible race track.

Rajini Krishnan's Race Bike Sabotaged During Final Round Of National Racing Championship In Delhi

According to Rajini, the saboteurs poured water into the fuel tank of his 2014 Kawasaki ZX10R which destroyed the race bike's engine, forcing him out of the final race of the season for the 1,000cc Superbike championship.

The incident which took place inside the secured pit garage of the BIC, came after Rajini set a laptime of 1:58.351 to claim pole during qualifying, becoming the only racer to go under the 2-minute mark.

Rajini also claimed that the organisers had not allowed his team's bikes to feature stickering for their tyre supplier, Pirelli, which the nine-time champion claims was an arbitrary change made overnight due to pressure from his rivals.

Rajini Krishnan, however, has not filed an official complaint with the FMSCI about the incident as he claimed that he didn't want to be dragged into the mess even further. Race officials, on the other hand, claimed that the bike was not in parc ferme at the time of the incident and that they would not be investigating the incident as a complaint had not been registered.

Here is Rajini Krishna's statement in full, which he published on his Facebook page - "I was on pole in qualifying yesterday and was hoping for a good race, today. Yesterday after qualifying, Someone poured water inside my petrol tank with intention of preventing me from racing. My engine has been destroyed and I have been unable to take part in the race. It is a sad day in Indian Motorsports where bikes kept in a secured pit garage, is tampered with. I am very disappointed. It has never happened to me in all my years of racing either in India or abroad."

"For my experience and achievements I did not need to race at the JK championship, I just rode so that the Delhi fans will get to see a professional superbike racer in action and to set an official lap record. But unfortunately, jealous rivals don't want that to happen."

"They seem to be powerful enough to change the rules. We were told today, by the race officials that we could not race our team bikes with our tyre supplier 'Pirelli' stickers on the bike today. There is no rule that a tire suppliers sticker cannot be stuck on a bike. It is an arbitrary rule, made overnight."

"The whole episode is very depressing, hope Indian racing will not go to lower depths and discourage talented racers from racing"

DriveSpark Thinks!

Rajini Krishnan's is probably India's best circuit rider till date and his victories abroad has raised India's profile in the world of motorcycle racing.

The fact that his rivals sabotaged his bike at the BIC, where he was over 3 seconds ahead of the second placed rider, shows just how low many Indian riders will go to try and win. Let's hope this horrendous act forces the FMSCI to wake up and fix the rot that is eating into racing in India.