Pune: Defending champion Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing, who has not had the best of starts this season, warmed up nicely for the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship by roaring to pole position in the premier Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) class at the MMRT track, here on Friday.

Jagan Kumar, currently lying fifth on the leaderboard, clocked an impressive one minute, 59.356 seconds, just ahead of championship leader Rajiv Sethu of Honda Ten10 Racing (01:59.912) while Harry Sylvester, also from TVS Racing, was the third fastest (02:00.242) before retiring with a mechanical problem.

In the Girls (Stock, up to 165cc) class, Bengaluru’s Aishwarya Pissay of Apex Racing, who is looking to consolidate her position at the top, grabbed pole position, clocking 02:13.561, well clear of Alisha Abdullah (Team Alisha Abdullah) whose best was a 02:16.025 with fellow-Chennaiite Shruthi Nagarajan (Rocker Racing) in third spot at 02:16.516.

Honda Ten10 Racing team riders dominated the qualifying session in the Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) category as Aravind Balakrishnan (02:04.556) and championship leader Mithun Kumar (02:04.955) occupied the top two spots on the grid ahead of S Sivanesan (Team Alisha Abdullah).