MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship - Round 4

CHENNAI: Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing team came up with another brilliant performance to destroy a quality field in the premium Group B (165cc) Open class as he registered his third win of the season in the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship at the MMRT track, here on Saturday.

Equally impressive winners of the day included Vishwadev Muraleedharan (Sparks Racing) who took the honours in the Group D (165cc) Novice class and Mathana Kumar (Ten10 Racing) who was in a league of his own while topping the Group C (165cc) Open class race.

The One-Make Championship races involving the four leading two-wheeler manufacturers Yamaha, Honda, TVS and Suzuki, also produced some fine moments. Mithun Kumar (Yamaha R15), Aravind Ganesh (TVS RTR 160), Sarath Kumar (Honda CBR 250) and Ananth Raj (Suzuki Gixxer Cup) won the Open class races in their respective series.  

After qualifying for pole position with a lap record timing of one minute, 53.968 seconds, Jagan, who recently won a Asian Road Racing Championship race in Indonesia, did not look back as he opened up a sizeable lead from the very first of the six laps to win with much to spare.

Finishing behind Jagan was the Moto-Rev Yamaha pair of Deepak Ravikumar and Rajini Krishnan while two other fancied riders, Sarath Kumar (Ten10 Racing) came in a disappointing sixth after running wide on the last corner and championship leader Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) was seventh.

Rajini Krishnan, after fluffing the qualifying session when his bike packed up, also rode a superb race. The veteran started eighth on the grid and sliced through the field to finish a creditable third. 

“It was a good race. The bike and the set-up were almost flawless. I set a lap record yesterday (Friday) in the qualifying session and today, it was just about a perfect race for me. I hope I can maintain the form tomorrow (Sunday) for the second race,” said an elated Jagan who thus moved to the top of the championship table with 87 points while Rajini Krishnan is second on 83, ahead of Sylvester (75).

 Sarath Kumar shrugged off the disappointing Group B race and won the Honda CBR 250 outing barely an hour later after surviving a close contest with Sumit Lucas Toppo (Prolap Racing) who eventually finished third behind Dinesh Kumar (United Torque Racing).

Provisional results (all 6 laps unless mentioned):

National Championship – Group B (165cc, Open): Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) 1 (11mins, 50.402 secs); Deepak Ravikumar (Moto-Rev Yamaha Racing) 2 (11:54.840); Rajini Krishnan (MotoRev Yamaha Racing) 3 (11:55.298). 

Group C (165cc, Open): Mathana Kumar S (Ten10 Racing) 1 (12:31.153); Vivek Pillai S (Ten10 Racing) 2 (12:33.345); Sumit Lucas Toppo (Prolap Racing) 3 (12:34.648).

Group D (165cc, Novice): Vishwadev Muraleedharan (Sparks Racing) 1 (13:22.743); Aravind B (Pvt) 2 (13:30.912); Kannan K (Moto-Rev Yamaha Racing) 3 (13:30.980).

One-Make Championship – Yamaha R15 Open (6 laps): Mithun Kumar PK (Chennai) 1 (13:34.219); Ramesh Kumar (Chennai) 2 (13:34.547); Vivek Mani (Chennai) 3 (13:40.811). Novice (Short loop): Kannan K (Chennai) 1 (07:48.239); Amarnath Rajan (Chennai) 2 (07:48.433); Daniel Shoham John Philip (Chennai) 3 (07:55.416).

Honda CBR 250 Open (6 laps): Sarath Kumar (Ten10 Racing) 1 (12:23.593); Dinesh Kumar D (United Tech Torque Racing) 2 (12:25.649); Sumit Lucas Toppo (ProLap Racing) 3 (12:26.092). CBR 150 Novice (Short Loop): Aravind B 1 (07:41.483); Sivanesan S 2 (07:42.260); Kishoar VS 3 (07:42.854).

TVS RTR 160 Open: Aravind Ganesh R 1 (13:26.090); KY Ahmed 2 (13:26.267); Kannan S 3 (13:26.330). Novice (Short Loop): Sathish Kumar L (Chennai) 1 (08:03.576); Kumaran K (Chennai) 2 (08.03.897); Akhand Pratap Singh (Roorkee) 3 (08:05.065).

Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Open) (6 laps): Ananth Raj P (Chennai) 1 (13:26.284); Abhishek Vasudev (Bangalore) 2 (13:26.374); Sathish Kumar A (Chennai) 3 (13:26.889). Novice (Short Loop): Amarnath Menon (Kerala) 1 (07:43.899); Vishwadev Muraleedharan (Coimbatore) 2 (07:43.967); Malsawmdawngliana (Aizwal) 3 (07:50.896).

CAPTIONS

Image-1: Vishwadev Muraleedharan of Sparks Racing, winner of the Group D (165cc) Novice class race in the fourth round of the MMSCI-FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship in Chennai on Saturday.

Image-2: Indian international Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing leads the field into Turn-3 on way to winning the premium Group B (165cc) Open class race in the fourth round of the MMSCI-FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship in Chennai on Saturday.

Image-3: Mathana Kumar of Ten10 Racing, winner of the Group C (165cc) Open class race in the fourth round of the MMSCI-FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship in Chennai on Saturday. 

Image-4: Indian international Sarath Kumar (No.69) of Ten10 Racing who won the Honda CBR 250 race in the Honda MMSC One Make Championship on Saturday in Chennai.