S. Sarath Kumar
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| Shankar Sarath Kumar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Shankar Sarath Kumar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Indian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 15 December 1991 Chennai, India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Honda Ten10 Racing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bike number | 69 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Shankar Sarath Kumar (born 15 December 1991 in Chennai, India) is a professional motorcycle road racer and a multiple Indian national champion. He became the first Indian to take part in the FIM Motorcycle World Championship[1] competing in the 125cc class in the 2011 MotoGP at the Portugal Grand Prix .[2][3][4][5] He took part in only three rounds.[6] His efforts to re-enter Moto3 for the 2014 season failed due to lack of sponsors.[7]
Kumar hails from a lower-middle-class family in Koyambedu, Chennai. He completed his secondary schooling at the Tamil Nadu Open University in 2008. His mother, Shanthi, is a beautician and he also has a sister. Even after taking part in the MotoGP races, he worked as a Taxi driver to meet his expenses.[8] He had to drop out of his BBA distance education at Tamil Nadu Open University to focus on motorsports.[8]
He attended the California Superbike School in February, 2010. The school was conducted by Keith Code at the MMSC Track in Chennai.[9] Kumar's tuition was paid by the Madras Motor Sports Club to encourage the young rider.
Career
Kumar started racing as a privateer on a TVS Apache 150cc 4-stroke in the 'TVS Race a bike scheme class'. He finished second in both the JK Junior Championship and the Summer Cup 2008. In 2008, Kumar joined TVS Racing and won the National Champion title in the up to 130cc 4-stroke novice class. He also raced in the Indian National Motorcycle Supersport 165cc class with Honda team. He began his racing career in 2008 with the Ten10 Racing Team, now WTR-Ten10 Racing. Ramji Govindarajan was his first coach.[10][11]