Close Quarters Combat

The first races in this season’s Honda One-make Race Championship gave us a taste of what to expect this year

THE RACE-PREPARED CBR 150R and CBR 250R bikes, revealed recently, were properly put through their paces over the last weekend of June during the first round of the Honda One-make Race Championship. Competition was tight, and we were lucky enough to be present to witness these young men and women push their machines and bodies to the limit.

Novice Class

RACE ONE

In the CBR 150R Novice races it was Anish Shetty of Hubli who dominated the class with back-to-back wins. Race one saw Shetty pull ahead early while Mahesh Murali from Kerala and Shreyas Sannake from Miraj battled for second position throughout the six laps. In the end it was Shetty on the top step of the podium, followed by Murali and Sannake for third.

RACE TWO

In the second novice race it was once again Shetty who pulled ahead at the first corner and then authoritatively extended his lead over the rest of the pack. Right behind him it was a close battle for second position among Mahesh Murali, Shreyas Sannake, Abhay Prashan of Chennai, and Piyush Ranjan of Patna. It seemed that Murali had second place in the bag, but went off the track for a few seconds, leaving second place to Shreyas Sannake, while Shane Thompson of Bengaluru, who was started further back, rode hard and was able to pass Prashan and Ranjan in the closing minutes to secure his spot on the podium.

( L-R) Piyush Ranjan, Shreyas Sannake and Abhay Prashan locked in battle for second place

Anish Shetty takes an early lead, while Shane Thompson, seen here in seventh, rode a flawless race to finish third