The two-day Bike Festival of
India (BFI), an initiative by Event Capital & Rhiti Sports, got underway at
the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) on October 4, 2014. The first day of this
extravaganza saw thousands of bike enthusiasts from across India perform some
spectacular stunts. Bikers participated for the qualifiers of the first ever
XDL India Championship, the biggest sports league for sportbike freestyle in
the world. The finals will be held on Oct 5 and the winners will feed into the
XDL World Championship to be held in 2015. Other racing events of the day
included qualifiers of Drag Championship and Top Gun.
A total of 75 bikers
participated in XDL qualifiers, which was being judged by stars of stunt
biking, Chris Tice & Aaron Twite. Drag racing had around 28 participants
whereas Top gun saw 22 riders fight it out. This was organised by Rongom
Tagore, Founder Elite Octane. The first day of the festival also witnessed live
musical performances from Barefaced Liar and the folktronic duo of Hari & Sukhmani.
The BIC track which has hosted
the Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix in the past was a perfect place for these
adventure junkies. Indian cricket team skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, an avid
biker, will be present on Oct 5. A few bikes from Dhoni’s personal collection
were at display including the very famous and rare model, Hellcat X132
Confederate
The second and final day of
the festival is expected to be exciting too with riders competing for the
trophies and performances by popular bands like Parikrama, Midival Punditz and
Tides of Nebula.
Arun Pandey, CMD, Rhiti Sports
said the Bike festival of India is an initiative to bring together people with
passion for biking. “The first edition of BFI received enormous love from
public and the biking community. I am hopeful this trend will only grow as we
move forward for the next edition,” he said. He said it was a great opportunity
for Indian bikers who got a big boost by the presence of global stars of XDL
Championship, Chris Tice and Aaron Twite.
Deepak Choudhary, Director
& CEO, Event Capital commented that India has never been on the global map
for biking and introduction of XDL has given an international platform to
Indian bikers. The Bike Festival of India is the first biking event to be
regulated by a motorsport body, FMSCI. BFI is powered by Gulf Oil, Courage
Partner – Mountain Dew and festival
Partner – KTM.
Picture of a stunt being performed by a biker