Honda Racing's Rajiv Sethu posts impressive win

International rider Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) notched his third successive win in the 165cc class in the premier pro-stock category in the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing championship at MMRT at Sriperumbudur near here Saturday.

It was a good day for the Honda racing team, picking up five podiums including two victories.

Hyderabad's Rahil Shetty (Sparks Racing) kept his nerve to pull off a brilliant victory in the first race of the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category.

Also scoring impressive wins were Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty who led a podium sweep for Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc category and Venkatesan who topped the Novice (Stock 165cc) race.

Sethu, who missed the first round due to international commitments, is in a catch-up mode in the championship stakes, and his hat-trick of wins took him to third on the leaderboard with 75 points behind TVS Racing's Jagan Kumar (94) and team-mate Sarath Kumar (78) going into Sunday's second race.

The 21-year-old Rahil Shetty secured a superb win as he battled not just his rivals but also his own error-filled riding before squeezing past TVS Racing pair of Deepak Ravikumar and KY Ahamed on the last lap.

Racing on the same grid as the 301-400cc bikes, Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty logged his second consecutive win with team-mates Abhishek Vasudev and Aravind Balakrishnan following him home.

The win took Anish's tally to 65, ahead of Mathan Kumar of Erula Racing (47) and Vasudev (45).

Earlier, in yet another close race, Venkatesan also registered his first win of the season in the Novice class after battling Mohan Babu (Rockers Racing) and Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) over six laps.

Results (Provisional, all 6 laps unless mentioned): National championship: Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-1): 1. Rahil Pillari Shetty (Sparks Racing) (11mins, 41.443secs); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) (11:41.990); 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (11:42.201).

Pro-Stock 201-300cc (Race-1): 1. Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:11.667); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:20.100); 3. Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:20.245).

Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:01.973); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (12:02.073); 3. Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:02.833).

Novice (Stock 165cc) Race-1 (6 laps): 1. Venkatesan I (Motomaniacz Racing) (13:06.397); 2. Mohan Babu P (Rockers Racing) (13:06.447); 3. Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) (13:06.628).

One-Make Championship: Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup