K. Vishwanath, Harry Sylvester and Karthik - did not participate in the earlier rounds. Though they have topped the charts in the National championship, the competition they will encounter in the Petronas event would be of much higher level.

In fact, the competition in the Underbone class is far stiffer with as many as five riders very much in contention for the championship title.

Only one point separates two Indonesians, Fitriansyah Kete (Yamaha) and Hadiwijaya (Kawasaki) at the top with 62 and 61 points, respectively, followed by three Malaysians, Mohd Affendi Rosli (Suzuki, 54 pts), Md Iskandar Raduan (Yamaha, 52) and Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (Yamaha, 51), who at 15 years of age is the youngest competitor. Hadiwijaya, however, does not figure in the entry list.

The third class in the event that is branded as 'Sidvin Indian Festival of Speed' after the Bangalore-based sponsors, is the MRF-Nations Cup open only to Honda 125cc Stunner bikes that will be run on MRF tyres.

Incidentally, the Stunner race has two Japanese riders whose absence in the SuperSports and Underbone classes is rather conspicuous. The home interest in the single-make Honda race will be on K Jagan and Harry Sylvester.

While the 3.717 Kms long track, now in its 19th year, has been spruced up and upgraded at considerable expense, the weather could yet play spoilsport.

Heavy rains Thursday night delayed the start of the scheduled practice sessions this morning as portions of the track were water-logged. If it is a wet race, then the going will not only be treacherous but also exciting.

There will be two races in each class, all scheduled for Sunday while the qualifying rounds will be held Saturday.