Aishwarya grabs pole position at national racing meet

Bengalurus Aishwarya Pissay (Apex Racing) further underlined her stature as one of the countrys top female riders by grabbing pole position in the girls section (Stock 165cc), introduced this season, as the Rolon round of the MRF MMSC Fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship commenced at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Friday.

Astride a Yamaha R15 bike, 21-year old Aishwarya overcame her nervousness ahead of the qualifying session and put in the fastest lap of one minute, 28.161 seconds which put her in front of the grid ahead of Kalyani Potekar from Madhya Pradesh (Team Speed Up Racing) who clocked a best of 01:28.645 and the experienced Alisha Abdullah of Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy (01:29.046).

"I was absolutely paranoid before the qualifying session as this was the first-ever National championship for girls. I put myself under pressure and wanted to throw up, but after a few laps, I settled down. I hope I can go faster in tomorrow's race. Today's qualifying time was much slower than the 1:24 I had done here earlier," Aishwarya said.

Earlier, Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing began the defence of his title by finishing in pole position in the premier Super Sport India (up to 165cc) class.

Close behind Jagan, who clocked a best lap of one minute, 15.820 seconds in the sixth lap after a sedate start in the qualifying session, was young Rajiv Sethu of Honda Ten10 Racing at 01:15.974, while TVS Racing's KY Ahmed came in third at 01:16.144.

Team Honda Ten10 Racing had much to cheer about as its riders Mithun Kumar, Soorya PM and B Aravind occupied the top three slots in the Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) class.

--IANS

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