Rajiv, Anish post wins on Day 1 in National Motorcycle Racing

Hondas Rajiv Sethu and Anish Shetty started the weekend action with wins in the first race of MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship Round 2.

In the Super Sport 165 class, local boy and Honda Ten10 Racing team's rider Rajiv Sethu completed the race with a timing of seven minutes and 51.210 seconds. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) was second with a timing of 07:53.966.

The combined race of Super Sport Indian and Pro-Stock 165cc was reduced from six laps to four following a heavy crash before Turn-3 resulting in a red flag on the very first lap. One of the riders involved in the incident, 21-year old Prashanth Kumar (Sparks Racing) from Karimnagar, Telangana, was immediately rushed to the hospital where he is said to be in a "critical, but stable conditions" after suffering multiple injuries.

On re-start, it was a virtual sprint thereafter, as Sethu, starting second on the grid behind Jagan Kumar, bided his time before the TVS racer ran wide in the penultimate lap. It was just the opening Sethu was waiting for, and he made his move and, held position for his first win of the season.

Behind the front runners, championship leader KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) fell at the Bridge Complex "S" when running in the front bunch and eventually finished sixth.

Sarath Kumar and Mathana Kumar finished 3rd and 4th respectively after a closely contested 4 lap race saw them put up a power-packed performance. Sarath reached the finish line in 7:54.735 minutes while Mathana took 7:58.062 minutes.

In the Pro Stock 165 class, Honda rider Anish displayed tremendous competitive spirit as he completed a hat-trick of wins in 2018,

Matching him toe to toe was Senthil Kumar who finished second right at the heels of Anish.

In the end Anish had a timing of 8:36.405 minutes followed by Senthil who took 8:36.455 minutes. The incident marred race saw Mithun Kumar finish in 7th position.

Chennai's Ann Jennifer of Sparks Racing notched her second consecutive win in as many outings this season in the Girls (Stock, 165cc) championship race with ease while experienced Alisha Abdhullah (Team Alisha Abdullah) and Sruthi Nagarajan (Apex Racing Academy) finished second and third, respectively.

The day ended with another big crash, this time in the Girls race of the TVS One-Make Championship as RC Czimkhy fell and was taken to the hospital with injuries. Her condition is said to be stable.

The results (Provisional - all 6 laps unless mentioned):

Super Sport Indian (165cc, 4 laps) - Race 1: 1. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten 10 Racing) (07min, 51.210sec); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (07:53.966); 3. Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten 10 Racing) (07:54.735).

Pro-Stock (165cc, 4 laps) - Race 1: 1. Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten 10 Racing) (08: 36.405); 2. Senthil Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten 10 Racing) (08:36.455); 3. Naresh Babu (RACR) (08:37.318).

Girls (Novice, 165cc, 5 laps): 1. Ann Jennifer AS (Sparks Racing) (11:35.960); 2. Alisha Abdullah (Team Alisha Abdullah) (11:38.525); 3. Sruthi Nagarajan (Apex Racing) (11:38.649).

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup 2018 organised by MMSC - Open (CBR 250cc, 6 laps) Race 1: 1. Anish D Shetty (Hubbali) (12:39.833); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (Bengaluru) (12:39.963); 3. Amit Richard Toppo (Ranchi) (12:40.409). Novice (CBR 150cc) Race 1: 1. Mohamed Mukail (Chennai) (13:10.085); 2. Akshay V Murali (Kerala) (13:27.386); 3. Anandhu KK (Chennai) (13:38.297).

TVS One-Make Championship - Open (Apache R310) Race 1: 1. Amarnath Menon (Calicut) (12:22.067); 2. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (12:22.529); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai) (12: 22.811). Novice (Apache 200) Race 1: 1. Karthik Mateti (Hyderabad) (13:41.697); 2. Anand R (Chennai) (13:52.409); 3. Venkatesan (Chennai) (13:58.514). Girls (Apache 200, 5 laps): 1. Ryhana Bee (Chennai) (11:46.202); 2. Ann Jennifer (Chennai) (11:47.052); 3. Priyanka Kochar (Mumbai) (12:21.837).

--IANS

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