Chennai: India’s leading two-wheeler manufacturers will yet again go head-to-head in thrilling battle for points as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2019 gets underway at the MMRT on Friday.

Honda, TVS, Yamaha and KTM have strong presence in the 16-race card that will also showcase India’s top bike racers, including girls, representing a clutch of teams, some privately funded and others supported by the manufacturers in various forms.

This weekend promises plenty of exciting action with riders jockeying for positions in their respective championship leaderboards with an eye on the points that are critical for National titles in various categories.

The premier Pro-Stock classes of 301-400cc, 201-300cc and the 165cc, all run on MRF slick tyres, have dished out edge-of-the-seat competition in the previous rounds with little separating the front-runners. In the event, there is hardly any room for error as every championship point would be worth its weight in gold from here on.

Further down the grid are the fruits of twin initiatives of promoters Madras Motor Sports Club – the Girls championship (Stock 165cc) which is still a work in progress and the Novice (Stock 165cc) class that boasts of 50-plus entries requiring split qualifying sessions to decide the eventual 40-bike grid for the points-scoring double-header. The championship stakes in both these categories are still wide open with promise of more close finishes.

In the previous round last month, Honda caused a huge buzz by introducing the epoch-making, FIM Moto3 spec NSF 250R bikes ridden by youngsters in the age-group of 12 to 19 as part of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup that also includes the CBR 150 class for Novice riders who made it to the grid following a pan-India selection process. TVS too have their One-Make Championship in three different categories – Open (RR 310), Novice and Girls (both RTR 200) – all boasting of sizeable and very competitive grids.