This is what spoilt the day for me. Click the picture above to see the video footage.
I want to raise a voice here about continuously deteriorating standards of orange day in india.Below is the details of the orange day that took place on 31 May 2014. Out of 50 more than 15 riders crashed. In the below pictures you can see duke 200s crashing at the very first corner.
The Attendance:
There were about 36 riders riding the duke 200 and 16 riders riding the duke 390.
The track: Torq3 - E-zone Club marathahalli Bangalore
Its a small and tight karting track with corners after corners. takes about 30 seconds to go around the track.
Inspite of its size its good enough to have fun on the dukes.
Here is how the race was organized:
The 50+ plus riders were given a briefing about how to tackle the track by an expert in a short 5 minute track walk.
No riding drills, practice laps or sighting laps. Most riders were riding here for their first time
Then there was the KTM India’s innovative qualifier. The qualifier was a race instead of a time trial.
The duke 200s were randomly split into 6 sets 6 bikes. Only the winner of each qualifier would make it to the duke 200 finals.
The 390s were in luck here due to the smaller numbers. Only 16 bikes meant two qualifier sets with 8 bikes each. top 3 out of the eight would qualify for the 390 finals.
Now, since even the qualifying round is a race in itself, you might wonder how the grid position was decided without having the lap times of the riders.
This was the true genius of KTM India: Lottery based grid position!!
Wow, this would make things more interesting.. grid with a mix of fast and slow riders where each rider is determined the to make it to the finals and win the race.
Imagine the plight of a duke 200 rider placed at the end of the grid. He has to overtake all of the other bikes in just 6 short laps to just make it to the finals.
Well how did this turn out? Not hard to guess. Plenty of bikes crashed at the very first corner. Many were out of the race just at the first corner. Crowd enjoyed the pile up of bikes.
KTM gets publicity either way. They didn’t see a reason to change it. Many riders who wanted to race didn’t get past the first corner of their very first lap.. after having waited for hours for this moment.
I will come to KTM’s time management later.
Fortunately, there were far less crashes in the 390 category probably due to metzelers and ABS.
My experience:
This is an onboard video of a rider (#43) who was in the first set of the 390 qualifier.
390 qualifier 1 Onboard video
#43 gets pole but gets pushed back to fifth when another rider(#45) aggressively bumps into him on lap 2. #45 clearly has no safety concern for others.
Here is a spectator video of my qualifier session:
390 qualifier 2 spectator video
(I am the rider #44 with the fluorescent helmet)
I got 4th place on the grid. There was a slow rider in front of me. I wanted to get past him without upsetting him. I was waiting for him to go wide so that I can maintain safe distance while I overtake.
I wanted it to be safe above anything else. The rider behind me was getting impatient as I waiting for a safe move and as he poked his nose on an inside line I let him pass too. I thought my race was done for at this rate. The rider in first place (rider#56) was building his lead.
Then, the riders in 3rd and 2nd place make mistakes and I cruise past them. I was even able to take out the gap to #56 and finished the qualifier right on his tail. Even though #56 is much slower than #44(me), in the final he seals 2nd place behind #45 by crashing and making other behind him fall too. Yes, for causing a crash chain he gets 2nd place.
The Orange Day 390 finals:
In the 390 final race, the slower riders were still at the front.(#45 and #56)
The rider in front of me (#56) was slow and unstable. I held back and my throttle, applied my brakes at many places just to make sure that I dont pass him in a way that would unsettle him. I was running in 3rd place waiting for convenient moment to pass him. #43 the fastest rider of the qualifying set 1 was behind me waiting for me to make a move on the slow riders. Then suddenly #56 crashes and takes me out with him. #43 hits his bike but does not crash. Fortunately the neither of us were hurt. But my bike sustained some damages. The race was immediately stopped and the results were declared in the same order. The rider (#56) who caused the pileup by crashing out in the front was given 2nd and I (#44) was given 3rd place. #43 4th.
I don't mind that I was placed 3rd behind two slow riders. What about the damages to my bike. My handle bar is bent, MRA windshield is cracked, left hand shied broken, leg guard bent, radiator guard broken. This is the first time I dropped my bike since i bought it and for no fault of mine. The repairs are expensive. What did I get in return? Trophy and a couple of T-shirts of random sizes. More than 15 bikes crashed in the event. Its all good for viewership and marketing I guess but there is a thick line between fun and stupidity which should be visible for any person in his sane mind. Safety and well being is clearly not a priority here. The riders were made to sign indemnity bonds during registration. Since they were running late on schedule they hurried the process and asked us to only fill in our names and driving license numbers and skip rest of the fields including emergency contact. The person who instructed the registration personnel to skip the emergency contacts was ceremoniously introduced at the end of the event as the person (Prakhar Muktibodh)who made this orange day possible. My many thanks to him.
A few years back I had participated in the first ever orange day to happen in bangalore.
We had some riding drills, sighting laps, time trials. The top ten times were chosen for the finals with the grid position as per the time set. It was much safer as the grid was properly ordered. I was expecting the same this time but instead got into a foolishly organized event.
The races would be much safer if lap time based qualifying was done. There was more than enough time to conduct it that way. Most riders were on time for the registration at 4pm.
The set of bikes went out to the track much later at about 7pm. All this shows the complacency of the organizers towards this event. They are the organizers and they can run it in any way that they fancy. KTM is taking the fans patronage too much for granted here in India. I hope these words and concerns reach some sane and responsible person at a high position in the KTM organizational tree. I love KTM bikes and I don't want to develop any disgust for this brand due to mediocre organization of events. Hope this gets rectified soon.
- A KTM fan
