Motorcycle Racing, My Life Story – Antony Peter

Well it all started at the age of 12. I was in 7th class and my father presented me his Yamaha RX100 on my 12th birthday. It was his bike. Well no dad would do that, right? My father was into rallying, so by default racing blood flows through my veins. He is an automobile engineer and owns a garage in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Well coming back to me, I got RX100 and later on I upgraded to Bajaj Pulsar 220F when I was in 9th class. I bought that bike specially for performing stunts. I took it out from the showroom and from day 1, I started practicing stunts on it. Since childhood, I always wanted to be a racer.

In 2011, I participated in my first FMSCI drag race held at Kari Motors Track in Coimbatore. It was a 220 to 250cc category drag race. There were 6 Honda CBR250R and 3 Bajaj Pulsars 220F. I finished 4^th, it was the best moment in my life.

I was in 10th my boards came by, and the KTM Duke 200 was launched. I wanted it so badly! My parents were like “score good marks we’ll get you that”. Well I was a below average student, everyone thought I would fail in the boards. But then I scored 82% and I had taken centum in science.

And as promised I got my duke200 in 2012. I was on cloud 9, I was elated. I trained myself on the track. I didn’t attend any professional motorcycle racing school or academy. We have a team here, called Renegat Ryderz , we hosted track days which took part at the Kari Motors Speedway.

My father bought me an superbike at the age of 16, the Yamaha YZF R6 , it was all of a sudden I didn’t expect it. Slowly I rode it and I took it to the track and I started practicing in the track with the R6 and the Duke 200. It was a dream come true for me or for any 16 year old.

At present I am 17 years old and going to be 18 on 3^rd May 2014. I recently participated in the Indian Motorcycle League (IML) in the Orange Class which is the KTM Duke 200 class. Mostly everyone was a professional trained racer in the Orange Class and they were all elder to me. All of them were from Chennai. I qualified 4th in the qualifying rounds on Saturday and I achieved my first podium on Race Day. A 2nd place in the IML, this was a dream come true. The first race I entered and I secured podium. All the credits goes to my mother. She supported me and my father all her life.

 The initial cost was high to get into motorsport and my parents didn’t support me at first. But when I secured that podium, my mother was proud of me and she support's me now. My sister is the one who always motivates me. She is elder to me and is doing her medicine studies.

I have added an exhaust to my Duke 200  and an ECU, but the races are in stock class so I had to remove everything.  I get my bike done up at my father’s garage, so there is no cost for me on that front. My father owns a vintage collection, he has about 18 bikes and all are below 50's models. He also has 6 cars. He has been in this profession for more than 35yrs. He supports me all the way.

 At present my life is heaven. And I am going to enter myself in this year’s season on the One Make Championship for various manufacturers like Yamaha, Honda, TVS, etc. And hope to secure the podium in each competition. I hope I get few sponsors because these competitions are costly. And my parents won’t be able to keep on supporting me with this much cost involved. So I hope to get a sponsor soon. Wish me luck, guys!

-- Antony Peter