MRF MMSC FMSCI INMRC 2018: Rajiv Sethu ends second round with double wins
The final day of the second round of the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship witnessed some consistent performance from the top riders. Rajiv Sethu from Idemitsu Honda Racing India ended the second round of the championship with two wins. He currently leads the national championship with 70 points, an 8 point lead over Jagan Kumar. Other big winners include Anish Shetty in the Honda Talent Cup open category of CBR 250cc class, Naresh Babu in the national championship Pro Stock 165cc class and Amarnath Menon in the Pro stock 301-400cc category.
Mikail bags another win on the last day of round 2
In the Honda Talent Cup CBR150cc category race, Mohamed Mikail carried over his stellar form to win the second race on the final day. It was not an easy win for the young lad, even though he started off from pole position. Akshay Murali took the lead in the initial part of the race, with Mikail behind him. Kritik Vasan Habib and Anandhu KK were close behind the duo. But Mikail caught up with Akshay to take back the lead in the next two laps and maintained his lead from that point. Akshay Murali took the third position, while Kirtik bagged the second spot. The top three racers maintained a good lead over the rest of the pack. Anandhu KK took the fourth place, while 13- year old Geoffery Emmanuel took the sixth position.
An edge-of-the-seat CBR250cc race
The Honda Talent Cup Open CBR250cc class was a thriller of a race. The eight-lap race saw Senthil Kumar, Amit Richard Toppo and Abhishek V exchanging leads for six laps, while Anish Shetty jumped from sixth place to third place, while the top order was fighting for the podium. Anish gained on them and in the last two laps and got the lead to win the race. Abhishek V and Amit Richard Toppo had to settle for second and third after a facing some tough competition from the other racers. Two Sri Lankans, Aaron Gunawardhena and Jaden Gunawardhena were a part of the race, lending it an international flavour. They gave a tough competition and broke in the top order in the initial part of the race. Jaden finished fourth and Aaron finished 13th. Senthil Kumar from Coimbatore led briefly in the early part of the race but lost the lead and ended up in 11th position at the end of the race.
National Championship Pro Stock 301-400cc category
This was a cracker of a race. Even though Sathyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing) started from pole position and took the lead, teammate Amarnath Menon was behind his tail and the duo exchanged the lead a number of times during the course of the race. Prabhu Arunagiri (Team Alisha Abdullah) took the third place despite starting from second place on the grid. Amarnath Menon got the better of Sathyanarayana Raju to bag the first place while the latter had to contend with a second place on the podium. The top three riders in the race maintained an enormous lead over the rest of the racers.
National Championship Super Sport 165cc class
For the first five laps of the race, Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) was leading, with Rajiv Sethu tailing behind him. In the fifth lap, he ran wide which opened a gap for Rajiv Sethu to snatch the lead away from him. Rajiv made most of the opportunity and maintained his lead to take the top spot. Jagan Kumar had to contend with second position at the end of the 8-lap race. Sarath Kumar rounded off the podium in the Super Sport Indian 165cc class.
National Championship Pro Stock 165cc class
In the Pro Stock 165cc class Anish Shetty and Naresh Babu were competing hard for the first place. Anish was leading the initial part of the race with Naresh Babu close behind him. In the third lap, Naresh Babu got the better of Anish Shetty to take the lead. He maintained his lead throughout the race, with Anish close behind him. Eventually, Naresh grabbed the top spot and Anish Shetty took the second spot in a wheel-to-wheel race between the two of them. Senthil Kumar finished on the podium.
Novice (Stock 165cc) category
19-year old Karthik Mateti from Hyderabad claimed victory in the Novice (Stock, 165cc) category. This is his first full season of racing and he tasted victory on the final day. Aditya Rao and Alexander AS bagged the second and third positions respectively. It was a 1-2-3 win for Sparks Racing team, who ended the weekend on a high note.
TVS One Make Racing Series
The open category saw racers astride their race spec Apache RR310s putting a strong show. However, the battle between the top two riders (Vivek and Deepak) was intense, and they were fighting a lonely race as they had a big lead over the rest of the pack. At the end of eight-lap race, Vivek Pillai grabbed the top spot while Deepak Ravikumar finished second. The battle for third place was between K Kannan and Yashas RL. For six laps, Kannan was in the third position but he dropped down the order and Yashas capitalised on the opportunity to finish on the podium. Kannan finished in 10th place at the end of the race.
In the Novice 200cc category, Karthik Mateti started from pole position and had a good lead over other racers. Anand R and Venkatesan were in second and third position for the first four laps but then the fifth lap saw Anand drop down the order to ninth position. Alexander AS was initially in fourth position and he dropped down two positions in the next two laps. In the last two laps of the race, he fought his way back to climb up the order and finish on the podium. Karthik won the race, with Venkatesan taking the second spot.
Drag Racing
The first round of Indian National Drag Racing Championship 2018 was also organised by MMSC and FMSCI, where Hemant Mudappa from Bengaluru won three categories – the Super Sport Unrestricted, 4-Stroke – 1051cc and Above and the 851-1050cc class. Jagan Kumar took the top spot in the Up to 165cc class, while Hussain Khan won the 2-Stroke – Up to 130cc category.
Here are the results of the national championship races, Honda and TVS’ one make series:
Super Sport Indian (165cc) – Race 2: 1. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten 10 Racing) (15mins, 37.026sec); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (15:40.465); 3. Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten 10 Racing) (15:57.911).
Pro-Stock (165cc) – Race 2: 1. Naresh Babu (RACR) (16:57.586); 2. Anish D Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten 10 Racing) (17:03.115); 3. Senthil Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten 10 Racing) (17:07.286).
Pro-Stock (301-400cc) – Race 2: 1. Amarnath Menon K (Gusto Racing India) (15:37.673); 2. Sathyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing India) (15:38.943); 3. Prabhu Arunagiri (Team Alisha Abdullah) (15:39.216).
Novice (Stock 165cc, 6 laps): 1. Karthik Mateti (Sparks Racing) (13:01.676); 2. Aditya Rao I (Sparks Racing) (13.04.384); 3. Alexander AS (Sparks Racing) (13:04.663).
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup 2018 organised by MMSC – Open (CBR 250cc) Race 2: 1. Anish Shetty (Bengaluru) (16:48.671); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (Bengaluru) (16:49.460); 3. Amit Richard Toppo (Ranchi) (16:49.692).
Novice (CBR 150cc) Race 2 (6 laps): 1. Mohamed Mikail (Chennai) (13:23.224); 2. Kritik Vasan Habib (Karnataka) (13:34.011); 3. Akshay V Murali (Kerala) 13:47.298.
TVS One-Make Championship – Open (Apache R310) Race 2: 1. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (16:21.188); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai) (16:21.244); 3. Yashas RL (Bengaluru) (16:30.900).
Novice (Apache 200) Race 2 (6 laps): 1. Karthik Mateti (Hyderabad) (13:37.283); 2. Venkatesan (Chennai) (13:50.679); 3. Alexander AS (Chennai) (13:50.726).
Here are the results for the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Drag Racing Championship 2018:
Super Sport Unrestricted: Hemant Mudappa (Bengaluru) (08.589secs); 2. Hafizullah Khan (Bengaluru) (08.598); 3. Manohar BN (Bengaluru) (9.285).
4-Stroke – 1051cc and Above: 1. Hemant Mudappa (Bengaluru) (08.762); 2. Hafizullah Khan (Bengaluru) (09.063).
851-1050cc: 1. Hemant Mudappa (Bengaluru) (08.538); 2. Anosh Khumbatta (Mumbai) (08.987); 3. Manohar BN (Bengaluru) (09.252).
361-550cc: 1. Aswin Kumar R (Chennai) (12.903); 2. Kevin Seetharaman (Hyderabad) (13.238); 3. Antony Peter (Coimbatore) (13.350).
Up to 165cc: 1. Jagan Kumar (Chennai) (14.210); 2. Aravind Ganesh (Chennai) (14.482); 3. Gowtham R (Bengaluru) (15.096). 166-225cc: 1. Harshil Thakur (Mumbai) (14.536); 2. Vaibhav Mathre (Mumbai) (14.657); 3. Sameer Ali (Mumbai) (15.103).
2-Stroke – Up to 130cc: 1. Hussain Khan (Mumbai) (14.409); 2. Aravind Ganesh (Chennai) (14.595); 3. Syed Nadeem (Bengaluru) (14.598). 131-165cc: Hussain Khan (Mumbai) (12.706); 2. Md Touheed (Bengaluru) (13.310); 3. Aiyaz (Bengaluru) (13.337).
