MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship – Round 2

 Meka Vidhuraj, hailing from Nuzvid near Vijayawada, scored a nail-biting win in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Open) with a last-lap overtaking as the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship kicked off at the MMRT track on Friday.

Also winning their respective races were Chennai’s Yuvaraj S in the TVS-MMSC Apache RTR 200 (Novice) category and Piyush Ranjan in the Honda-MMSC CBR 150 (Novice) class.

Vidhuraj, starting second behind pole-sitter R Rajinikanth (Chennai), was caught up in a four-way clash that also involved Vishwadev Muraleedharan (Coimbatore) and Vivian Gladwin (Kanpur).  

The foursome pulled away from the rest of the field with Vidhuraj and Rajinikanth exchanging lead in the front. On the last lap, Vidhuraj made a smart move entering the Bridge Complex corners to slip past Rajinikanth for a fine win. Vishwadev, who had started sixth, finished third ahead of Gladwin.

The RTR 200 Novice race also provided some thrilling moments with Yuvaraj who had qualified for pole position, losing his way in the first half of the four-lap race before pulling through to pip Bengaluru’s Yashas RL who squandered a sizeable lead. Patna’s Kamran Alam completed the podium.

In contrast, Piyush Ranjan, from Patna, emerged a comfortable winner after starting second on the grid. He jumped into the lead in the very first lap and went on to notch a commanding win.

Earlier, local lad and TVS Racing spearhead Jagan Kumar, who last week had won a podium spot in the Asia Road Racing Championship in Sentul, Indonesia, displayed fine form to snatch pole position in the premium Super Sport Indian class.

The results (Provisional):

One-Make Championship: Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Open) Race-1 (6 laps): 1.Meka Vidhuraj (Nuzvid) (13mins, 28.003secs); 2.R Rajinikanth (Chennai) (13:28.145); 3.Vishwadev Murleedharan (Coimbatore) (13:28.614).

TVS-MMSC Apache RTR 200 (Novice) Race-1 (4 laps): 1. Yuvaraj S (Chennai) (09:11.643); 2.Yashas RL (Bangalore) (09:12.023); 3.Kamran Alam (Patna) (09:14.252).

Honda-MMSC CBR 150 (Novice) Race-1 (4 laps): 1. Piyush Ranjan (Patna) (08:52.381); 2. Shreyas Shankar Sannake (Miraj) (08:54.647); Anish D Shetty (Hubballi) (08:58.792).