Indian bike racers have been making their presence felt in the international arena over the past two years. Preetham Dev Moses from Chennai who is the National Champion 2007 has now become the first Indian bike racer to test for the MOTO GP, the pinnacle of 2 wheeler motorsports, at the Zuhai International Circuit in China on 1st and 2nd September 2008.

"I feel quite excited and happy to finally get to Moto GP, because its been my goal and a dream ever since I started racing" said Preetham.

Preetham, who would be taking part in the 250 cc class of the MotoGP had to do the test only on a GP 125 cc Aprilia bike, due to delay in getting funds. "Unfortunately I could not test on a 250 but the 125 GP bike was a good experience ; there's so much to learn on a GP bike. Overall I was pleased with the timings, given that it was the first time on a GP bike and also a new circuit for me." Preetham's timings in the testing was very close to the lap records of the Zuhai International Circuit.

The ace racer from Chennai had earlier received a wild card entry for 5 races in the MOTO GP this year. But lack of sufficient sponsorship and delay in getting enough funds has restricted his participation to two races only. For the first time in the annals of Indian motor sports, a racer from India will be seen action in the two races of MOTO GP this year. Preetham will be racing on a 250 cc Aprilia bike in the MOTO GP races to be held in Malaysia on 19th October and in Valencia, Spain, on 26th October. On his preparation for the MotoGP, Preetham said " I have been training very hard for the last few months. The team has given me a work out / diet schedule that I follow. Apart from that I've been practising on the TVS dirt bike every week at our Chennai track"

Preetham’s manager for these two races is Chuck Aksland who is also the team manager for former MOTO GP world champion Kenny Roberts Moto GP team.

Despite lack of more sponsors and substantial shortage of funds the last one year has seen Preetham achieving many highs. Late last year he had also become the first Indian to finish second in the Malaysian Super Series 600 cc open category missing the title by a whisker. In March this year he received a special invite to race in the fifth round of the UAE Super Sports Championship at the Dubai Autodrome. And in a grid of 20 which included racers from Great Britain, Switzerland, South Africa. Italy, Saudi Arabia, Dubai etc., Preetham won acclaim by performing splendidly to finish third and fourth in the two races respectively.

Good sponsorship and continuous support is what Preetham needs at this critical juncture. If the financial hurdles are cleared, Preetham with his tremendous will power to succeed is sure to garner more laurels for the nation in the coming days.

Preetham is sponsored by Airtel, TVS & Red Rooster Racing and co-sponsored by Xtreme Sports Bar & Livelife.