Motorsports: Deva tops in novice race at National Motorcycle Racing

Deva Umapathy, a 20-year old mechanic from Chennai, rode brilliantly to win the Group D Novice (130cc) class race in the Rolon Round of the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship here on Saturday.

Starting second on the grid behind Kannan K. of TVS Racing, Deva was off the blocks and into the lead by the first corner and never looked back to win in commanding fashion.

Kannan, trying to make up for the poor start, went into the gravel at the first corner and again on the next lap to drop out of contention.

Finishing second behind Deva in the 10-lap race was Yashvin Kumar who overtook Sivanesan of TVS Racing on the last lap.

Earlier, the experienced Mathana Kumar of Ten10 Racing clocked a blistering one minute, 16.958 seconds to grab the pole position in the Group C Open class.

Suzuki, who made their debut in the One-Make Championship through the Suzuki Gixxer Cup, put on a good show with Abhishek V. being the quickest in the Open category with a timing of 1:23.461 while Amarnath Menon topped the charts in the Novice class.

Kishore V.S. of Apex Racing claimed the pole spot in the Group D Novice (165cc), clocking 1:21.353 while Kannan K. finished in front in the Group D Novice (130cc) class, with a best lap of 1:26.667.

The results (provisional):

Group D Novice (130cc) Race 1 (10 laps): Deva Umapathy (14 mins, 46.930 secs) 1; Yashvin Kumar R. (14:53.491) 2; Sivanesan (TVS Racing) 3 (14:53.638).

Qualifying - Group C Open: Mathana Kumar S. (Ten10 Racing) 1 (1:16.958); Meka Vidhuraj (United Tech Torque Racing) 2 (1:18.465); Ananth Raj P. (Kingdom Racing India) 3 (1:18.846).

Group D Novice (165cc): Kishore V.S. (Apex Racing) 1 (1:21.353); Vishwadev Muraleedhara (Sparks Racing) 2 (1:21.955); Shankar Guru A. 3 (1:22.334).

Group D Novice (130cc): Kannan K (TVS Racing) 1 (1:26.667); Deva U. 2 (1:27.071); Sivanesan (TVS Racing) 3 (1:28.354).

Suzuki Gixxer Cup - Open: Abhishek V. (Chennai) 1 (1:23.461); Rajanikanth R. (Chennai) 2 (1:23.911); Sathish Kumar A. (Chennai) 3 (1:24.282). Novice: Amarnath Menon (Kerala) 1 (1:23.518); Vishwadev Muraleedharan (Coimbatore) 2 (1:24.675); Anthony Peter E. (Coimbatore) 3 (1:25.165).