Promoter of ISRL confident of it taking off as scheduled

Aashwin Lokhande, Veer Patel and Eeshan Lokhande of Supercross India Pvt. Ltd, the promoters of the Indian Supercross Racing League
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

There has been a lot of talk that the CEAT Indian Supercross Racing League (ISRL) will take off in New Delhi in October. But, with just a few months to go, many things are yet to fall in place.

However Eeshan Lokhande, the co-founder of Supercross India Pvt Ltd., the event promoters, made it clear that things are moving at a steady pace.

“We are better placed than what people think and there’s a lot of back-end work going on. We are not speeding but going at a very decent mid-pace, which is comfortable right now. As the weeks roll by, things will be a lot clearer,” Lokhande told The Hindu on Wednesday.

But the brand-based league has identified just one franchise (Panchshil Racing, Pune), of the eight planned, so far. “We are talking to a lot of people and there are some who have principally approved, some are still evaluating the proposal and for a few others the documentation is pending,” he said.

“Everybody wants to know what’s next from our side and that’s a good space to be in when you are doing something new. We are confident of going ahead as the timelines are good.

“Being riders and racers all our lives and organising events, we are trying our best to find out what works right for the sport and what the riders and the audience need,” he said.

Supercross India got the rights to host the event post-Covid (2019). “We did not like that phase as people suffered but probably, we were the lucky ones who came out well. During that period, we did our research and homework and it’s paying off now,” said Lokhande.

Will it be financially feasible? “We cannot have one stream, we need to have multiple stakeholders. When you welcome more people, multiple options open up to make the sport happen — right from sponsors, to team owners, to the federation itself and other organising bodies across India. We plan to hold hands with them and through that process, we feel this will be a viable model,” said the former racer.

The first year will be run in three cities but Lokhande promised more as the years roll by.