Defending champion Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) came up with a dominant display on his super quick Apache RTR 160 bike to win the premium Pro-Stock 165cc Open race in the first round of the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT, here on Saturday.
Earlier, Alwin Sundar (AS Motorsports), the English Literature student from Chennai’s Guru Nanak College, and who turns 19 in a week’s time, gave himself an advance birthday gift by winning the Novice (Stock 165cc) race that he started from P5.
Chennai’s Jagan Kumar, 31, winner of nine National titles, set such a hot pace after starting from pole position that it virtually destroyed a classy field to finish well ahead of arch-rival and fellow-international Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) who, in turn, held off TVS Racing’s Deepak Ravikumar after a cat-and-mouse battle through the six-lapper, the organisers said in a release on Saturday.
“The bike was just brilliant today. I really pushed in the early part of the race and, in the end, it was fairly comfortable,” said Kumar who even kept looking behind as he approached the finish line at the end of the race.
In contrast, the pole-sitter in the Novice race run earlier in the day, Allwin Xavier (Sparks Racing), crashed in the last lap when in lead which allowed Alwin Sundar to get a jump and post his maiden win at the National level.
Running third in the last lap, Sundar, racing in just his third season, moved to the front after couple of riders in front, including Xavier, crashed in the final lap. Also benefitting from the incident were Thrissur’s Anfal A (Rockstar Racing) and Teja TVR Namburu (Gusto Racing) from Hyderabad, who finished second and third, respectively.
Another notable winner on the day was 16-year old Kavin Quintal from Chennai in the high-end NSF 250R class of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup. He had to ward off defending champion 14-year old Sartak Chavan (Pune), who crashed in the fourth lap when hotly challenging for the lead. Quintal finished ahead of Varoon Sadasivam and Geoffrey Reviven Emmanuel, both also from Chennai.
The results (Provisional – all 6 laps unless mentioned):
National Championship – Pro-Stock 165cc Open (Race-1): 1. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (11mins, 50.845secs); 2. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) (11:55.312); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) (11:57.519).
Novice (Stock, 165cc, Race-1): 1. Alwin Sundar (AS Motorsports) (13:09.026); 2. Anfal A (Rockstar Racing) (13:09.157); 3. Teja TVR Namburu (Gusto Racing) (13:09.335).
One-Make Championships:
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250 Open (Race-1): 1. Kavin Quintal (Chennai) (11:04.310); 2. Varoon Sadasivam (Chennai) (11:15.762); 3. Geoffrey Reviven Emmanuel (Chennai) (11:16.398).
Honda CBR 150 (Race-1): 1. Rakshith S Dave (Chennai) (13:12.373); 2. Prakash Kamath (Bokharo Steel City) (13:17.189); 3. Theopaul Leander (Chennai) (13:21.759).
Honda Hornet 2.0 (Race-1): 1. Kevin Kannan (Chennai) (13:28.543); 2. Veera Ashwin Lal (Madurai) (13:49.116); 3. Sudheer Sudhakar (New Delhi) (13:52.208).
TVS Apache RR 310 Open (Race-1): 1. Amarnath Menon (Kerala) (12:18.421); 2. Yashas RL (Bengaluru) (12:19.175); 3. Jagadeesh N (Bengaluru) (12:19.737)
TVS Rookie (RTR 200, Race-1): 1. Jinendra Kiran Sangave (Kolhapur) (13:00.501); 2. Zenas Zhotan Bailey (Auroville) (13:21.271); 3, Jagathishree (Chennai) (13:21.432).
TVS Girls (RTR 200, 5 laps): 1. Rakshita Srihari Dave (Chennai) (11:21.305); 2. Adlin Seles (Chennai) (11:25.725); 3. Nishita Palani (Chennai) (11:32.585).
