Jagan, Sethu share honours; double for Mithun, Menon at Racing Nationals

Defending champion Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) and young Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten10 Racing) shared honours in the premier Super Sport 165cc class double-header with solid performances as the curtain came down on the Rolon round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship here on Sunday.

While Jagan and Sethu, both from Chennai, scorched the track, Mithun Kumar, also of Honda Ten10 Racing, scored a double in the Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) class that was run concurrently with the Super Sport Indian (165cc) class, according to a release.

Also scoring a double was Gusto Racing's Amarnath Menon from Kerala who won both the races in the Super Sport Indian (300-400cc) category at the Kari Motor Speedway.

The Super Sport Indian (165cc) and the Pro-Stock categories had two races on Sunday, the first of which was held over from Saturday following rains and was cut to six laps while the second outing was run over 15 laps.

Jagan Kumar, among the lightest two-wheeler racers in the country, showcased his class and riding skills in Race-2 and made up for disaster in the previous outing when he dropped out of contention due to an electrical glitch to finish a distant eighth.

Having set right the electrical problem during the interval between two races, the reigning national champion played it safe at the start and even sacrificed two spots to fall to third. Once into his stride, there was no stopping Jagan as he moved smoothly past front-runner Mathana Kumar who committed an error exiting Turn-5 in the closing stages of the 15-lap race and eventually cruised to victory.

The first race winner Sethu, however, had a nightmarish time. Following engine failure at the start grid, he was forced to start from the pit-lane, but managed to move to fourth, before a mistake at Turn-1 saw him crash.

Kerala's Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) destroyed the 300-400cc field while winning both the races in this category. The second race was run in intermittent showers, but that did not stop Menon from chalking up another fluent win.

Anup Kumar of RACR team took the honours in the Stock (up to 165cc) class which had a massive start grid of 40 riders.

The results (Provisional):

National Championship: Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc, Race 1, 6 laps): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten10 Racing) (07mins, 53.415secs); 2. Mathana Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing) (07:53.947); 3. Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) (07:56.935). Race 2 (15 laps): 1. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (19:08.883); 2. Mathana Kumar S (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (19:11.374); 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (19:53.750).

Pro-Stock (up to 165cc, Race 1, 6 laps): 1. Mithun Kumar PK (Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:17.120); 2. Soorya PM (Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:19.870); 3. Yashas RL (Rockers Racing) (08:25.485). Race 2 (15 laps): 1. Mithun Kumar PK (Honda Ten10 Racing) (20:07.186); 2. B. Aravind (Honda Ten10 Racing) (20:08.278); 3. Aravind Ganesh (Chennai) (20:14.774).

Super Sport Indian (300-400cc, 15 laps): 1. Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) (18:56.817); 2. Kishoar VS (Apex Racing Academy) (18:58.897); 3. Anthony Peter (Kingdom Motorsports) (19:16.375).

Stock (up to 165cc, 10 laps): 1. Anup Kumar M (RACR) (14:35.212); 2. Amala Jerald A (Honda Ten 10 Racing) ( 14:39.447); 3. Sri Rahil Pillarishetty (Sparks Racing) (14:41.270);.

One-make Champinship - Honda CBR 250 Open (Race 1, 10 laps): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (13:23.802); 2. Amit Richard Topno (Pro-lap Racing) (13:31.060); 3. B Aravind (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (13:32.938). CBR 150 (Novice, 8 laps): 1.Satyanarayana (Hyderabad) (14:34.597); 2. Amala Jerald (Chennai) (14:39.573); 3. Aditya Rao Immaneni (Bengaluru) (14:39.843).

Support Race (Girls, 5 laps): 1. Ryhana Bee A (Chennai) (07:47.567); 2. Shruthi N (Chennai) (07:48.333); 3. Kalyani Potekar (Madhya Pradesh) (08:40.809).

Apache RTR 200 Open (Race 1, 10 laps): 1. Yashas RL (Bengaluru) (14:24.644); 2. Prabhu V (Chennai) (14:28.944); 3. Yuvraj S (Chennai) (14:30.745). Race2: 1. Sivanesan S (Chennai) (14:24.914); 2. Prabhu V (Chennai) (14:28.005); 3. Kamran Dubash (Panchgani) (14:43.268).

Apache RTR 200 Novice (Race 2, 6 laps): 1. Peddu Sri Harsha (Chennai) (09:4.222); 2. Shankar Guru A (Chennai) (09:10.164); 3. Alexander AS (Chennai) (09:12.848).

--IANS

pur/dg