Sriperumbudur: Honda racers Anish Shetty and Mohammed Mikail both took their sixth chequered flags in a row to seal the respective titles with a final day of the season remaining to be run in the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the Madras Motor Race Track here on Saturday.
While the Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty of Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing won the Pro-Stock 201-300cc title without anyone challenging him in the fifth and final round, there was drama in the Honda Talent Cup NSF 250R race run on FIM Moto3-spec bikes with Pune’s Sarthak Chavan providing the much-needed spice to the competition.
“Today I knew if I win, I would seal the championship. Initially, I rode hard, seeing I had a good lead, I eased up. To win six races in a row is just amazing!” said a beaming Shetty.
Sarthak, who duels in supercross and track racing showed that at just 12 years he has the capability to withstand the pressure of cutthroat competition only in his first year on tarmac racing.
Sarthak began third on the grid but some spirited riding saw him in take the lead, which he maintained for three laps before magical Mikail overtook him to take the win and the title.
Nonetheless Sarthak’s showed potential to graduate further and with his impending ride in Malaysia should open doors for him in Asia Talent Cup for the coming season.
Even as the 15-year old Chennai racer Mikail sealed the title there are two more races to go on Sunday but the result will not alter his position. Also scoring a decisive win was Abhimanyu Gautam of Sparks Racing from Jind, Haryana, in the Novice Stock 165cc category to move to the top of the leaderboard in this class.
Sarath moves closer to title
Honda’s star rider Sarath Kumar got ever more closer to the rider’s championship in the Pro-Stock 165cc category.
Sarath powered his way in the last lap to win by 0.186 seconds in an intense battle with K Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing. Joining him on the podium in third position was K Kannan of Chennai.
Rajiv Sethu, who made strides up the grid but settled for fifth position after the race was red flagged.
Sarath now has championship lead of six points over his team-mate Rajiv Sethu.
Happy with his team’s performance, Prabhu Nagaraj, Vice President–Brand & Communications, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, said, “It was commendable performances by Sarath Kumar and Rajiv Sethu in the Red flagged races keeping us well in line to win the triple crown victory in PS165cc for the fifth consecutive year.
“Also, the consistent performance by Anish Shetty has helped him seal the championship with one more race to go and it makes me proud that Honda’s next-gen rider Mikail broke the fastest lap record at MMRT track to win the NSF250R championship,” Nagaraj added.
Results:
National Championship:
Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Karthik Mateti (Gusto Racing India) 07:43.694; 2.Rahil PIllari Shetty (Sparks Racing) 07:45.529; 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) 07:45.650.
Pro-Stock 201-300cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Ansih D Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) 08:02.611; 2. Mathana Kumar S (Honda Erula Atomic Racing) 08:04.556; 3. Mithun Kumar PK (Honda Erula Atomic Racing) 08:06.279.
Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Sarath Kumar S (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) 08:05.465; 2. K Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) 08:05.639; 3. K Kannan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) 08:06.066.
Novice (Stock 165cc) Race 1: 1. Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) 13:05.011; 2. Manoj Y (Team Motomaniacz Racing) 13:08.802; 3. Annish Samson (Team Speed-Up Racing) 13:08.970.
One-Make Championship:
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-1): 1. Md Mikail (Chennai) 11:07.289; 2. Sarthak Chavan (Pune) 11:10.531; 3. Kritik Habib (Gadag) 11:10.624.
CBR 150 (Race-1): 1. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) 13:11.576; 2. AS James (Chennai) 13:14.024; 3. Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) 13:15.938.
TVS Open (RR 310) Race-1: 1. Soorya PM (Chennai) 11:56.038; 2. Anand R (Chennai) 11:57.899; 3. Sivanesan Sethu (Chennai) 12:00.715.
Novice (RTR 200) Race-1: 1. Anish Samson (Bengaluru) 13:13.028; 2.Manoj V (Chennai) 13:13.061; 3. Ullas Santrupt (Bengaluru) 13:13.188.
Girls (RTR 200) 5 laps: 1. Lakiya Lee (Chennai) 11:29.416; 2. Nivetha Jessica (Chennai) 11:39.457; 3. Haritha Muralikrishnan (Chennai) 11:40.534.
