TVS Racing's Deepak Ravikumar,Honda Racing's Rajiv Sethu shine

Deepak Ravikumar led a 1-2 finish for TVS Racing in the premium Pro-Stock 301-400cc class, while Rajiv Sethu,fresh from an international outing in Japan,scored a thrilling win in the Pro-Stock 165cc category to bring some cheer for Honda in the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship here Saturday.

Starting from pole position, Ravikumar held off team-mate K Y Ahamed for a commanding win, while Sethu, who missed the first round in Coimbatore last month, fought tooth and nail to beat favourite and pole-sitter Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing), sealing victory in the last lap.

Mathan Kumar (Erula Racing) also chalked up a last-gasp win over Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) in the Pro-Stock 200-300cc class that was run on a combined grid with the 301-400cc category, while Bengalurus Abhimanyu Gautam, starting from third on the 39-rider grid, topped the Stock 165cc (Novice) race which went down to the wire.

Earlier, 14-year old Md Mikail from Chennai underlined his potential by comfortably winning the inaugural race in the newly-introduced Honda NSF 250R category of the Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup One-Make championship.

Varun Sadasivam, also from Chennai, came in second ahead of another 14-year old local schoolboy Kavin Samaar Quintal.

Reflecting on his win, Sethu said: "I had problems with the grip levels, and I thought I might go off.

But I used my experience to stay behind Jagan and eventually passed him on the penultimate lap at the Bridge Complex left-hander.

It was a tough race and I had to fight all the way to win."
Results (Provisional all Six laps unless mentioned):