Rajini Krishnan has commenced his title defence for the Malaysian Superbike Championship at the Sepang International Circuit. Its first round, a support race for the World Superbike Championship, was held last weekend, on May 13-15, 2016.

Despite problems with tyres and wet conditions during practice and qualifying, Rajini qualified fifth on his Kawasaki ZX10 R. During the 8-lap-long Race 1, Rajini held second position until Lap 6 when he experienced issues with his suspension, which resulted in excessive sliding. However, he managed to finish fourth.

Race 2 was declared a wet race, and Rajini found the newly laid tarmac tough to come to terms with. Nonetheless, Rajini finished fifth in this race. While Rajini was on the 2013 Ninja ZX10 R during the support race, he hopes to better his performance as he will be racing the 2016 ZX10 R for the remaining rounds of the championship.

Check out the schedule for the 2016 Malaysian Superbike Championship below

Round 1: May 13-15

Round 2: July 22-24

Round 3: September 17-18

Round 4 and 5: December 1-4