Mahindra Racing's Danny Webb brilliant at home

CHENNAI: Danny Webb, the senior rider of Mahindra Racing, had to wait to log his first points in the MotoGP (125cc) championship.
The wait, hard as it may have been for the 20-year-old Brit, was worthwhile as Webb got off the mark in front of home crowd, riding a brilliant race under treacherous conditions to finish 11th at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday.
Webb, who has had his tryst with bad luck in the previous five rounds of the season, almost lost it again at the first corner when another rider lost control in front of him. The Brit, however, slowed down to avoid being taken out and from then on worked his way up the grid to finish with five points in conditions which forced the retirement of nine of the 29 starters.
"When I got to 15th I knew I could get at least one point, and I could see a lot of other riders falling off. My pace was good and there was no one catching me from behind. I concentrated on bringing it home in the awful conditions," said Webb, more than happy with his performance at "home".
Mahindra had a mixed weekend though with its second rider - German Marcel Schrotter crashing out while running in ninth spot during the rain-marred race, which show a lot of riders taking excursions to the run-off areas, struggling for traction.
Schrotter was undone by the heavy wind which took him off the racing line. "I am disappointed. It was such a difficult race - the wind was so bad. I had just moved from 11th to ninth when I crashed. The wind caught me and pushed me off the dryer line, and there was so much standing water the tyre aquaplaned," said the German, who had scored three points two months back in Jerez, during the second round of the championship.
The race was won by German Jonas Folger on his Aprilia, who finished ahead of Johann Zarco riding a Derbi. Folger is currently second in the championship with 93 points. Spanish Aprilia rider Nicolas Terol, who finished eighth on Sunday, leads the table with 128 points.
Hamaguchi finishes third
Moto-Rev India’s Toshiyuki Hamaguchi finished third in the second round race of the FIM Asian Road Racing Championship (ARRC) at Sentul, Indonesia, on Sunday.
Despite managing to qualify only 7th for Race 1, Hamaguchi, stormed into third place just after the start and was locked in a three-way battle with race-winner Fujiwara of Japan and second-placed Azlan Shah of Malaysia.
The result brought some cheer in the Moto-Rev camp, after the team was forced to withdraw the entry of their two Indian riders due to financial constraints.
National champion K Rajini and Gautham Mayilvagnan had to sit out this round due but Rajini said he would race again in the next round which will be held in Chennai on August 4.
Hamaguchi had a disastrous Race 2 as he crashed out after running wide during the fourth lap.