Gixxer Slugfest
The Suzuki Gixxer Cup is back for its second season
PART OF THE INDIAN National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC), the Suzuki Gixxer Cup is a great platform for young aspiring racers to cut their teeth. The racing takes place in two classes: the Novice Class for riders below 23 years of age, and the Open Class is for the older ones. Apart from these classes, Suzuki have also collaborated with Red Bull for the Road to Rookies Cup. The Road to Rookies Cup provides access to the Rookies Cup, held in Spain, for promising riders aged between 13 and 17. From there the best among them will have an opportunity to move into Moto3, Moto2 and, eventually, MotoGP.
On Friday the race-prepared Gixxer SF motorcycles were fine-tuned between practice sessions in preparation for the next day’s qualifying. Of the 39 entries to the Novice Class only 20 qualified to race, and of the 24 entries to the Open Class all but one made the cut.
Saturday saw the first Novice Class race, a closely-fought battle between the youngster Aaron Gunawardena from Sri Lanka and Chennai’s Joseph Mathew. At the finish-line it was the 13-year-old Gunawardena in the lead, having outridden the other much older riders to also secure the best lap of the race. He was closely followed by Mathew in second and Chennai’s Amarnath Rajan in third.
It was young Aaron who made it a double victory by clinching the second Novice Class race as well on Sunday. In second place was Joseph Mathew again, who set a best lap trying to catch the leader but finished less than a second behind. In third was once again Amarnath Rajan.
Sunday’s Gixxer Cup Open Class race was red-flagged and restarted following an incident involving two riders on the first corner of the first lap. The race was promptly restarted after the track was cleared, and an intense battle ensued between Meka Viduraj and B Rajnikanth for the lead. Unfortunately, Viduraj crashed out, allowing Rajnikant to take the top step of the podium, followed by Vivek Mani in second and Prabhu V in third.