INDIAN MOTOR SPORT
Riders, racing teams, media, and spectators descended on Chennai for the second round of the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship
ROUND TWO OF THE 2016 MRF FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC) was held on the recently resurfaced MMRT circuit amidst speculation of compromised grip levels. This didn’t stop over 200 racers from going out there and giving it their all in the Chennai heat on the second weekend of August. Apart from the three nationallevel classes — Stock, Pro-Stock and Super Sport — the weekend also comprised manufacturer-specific onemake races featuring race-ready machinery from TVS, Honda and Suzuki. In total there were 25 races spread over the weekend.
Stock Class
RACE ONE
The first Stock class race held on Saturday morning was a tightly-fought battle between Antony Peter of team Performance Racing and Joseph Mathew of team Sparks Racing. Peter lapped the circuit at 2:10.546, less than a tenth of a second faster than local boy Mathew to finish first, while Pro Lap Racing’s Piyush Ranjan grabbed the third spot on the podium, with a best lap of 2:13.068.
RACE TWO
Sunday’s Stock class race saw three Chennai boys on the podium at their home circuit after swapping the lead several times. After six laps of uncertainty, it was RACR’s Amarnath Rajan who took the top spot, followed by P M Soorya of team Speed Up Racing and Peddu Sri Harsha of Sparks Racing. This was one of the most tightly contested races of the weekend, with less than half a second separating the top three at the finish.
Pro Stock Class
RACE ONE
The first Pro-Stock 165 class race was held on Saturday, and we almost saw Honda Ten10 Racing dominate the top three spots. Team-mates Hari Krishnan and Rajiv Sethu finished the race in first and second places respectively, with only .004 of a second between them at the finish. Their Honda teammate, Mithun Kumar, was following close behind, but it was RACR’s
Super Sport Class
RACE ONE
The first Super Sport race, held on Saturday, was dominated by TVS Racing, with three of their top Chennaibased riders on the podium. K Jagan finished first, with a best lap of 1:59.324, followed by team-mate S Kannan. Kannan did make the best lap of the race at 1:58.797, but this was not enough to beat Jagan’s consistency throughout the six laps. In third place was K Y Ahamed, who finished the race less than a second behind the leader.
RACE TWO
Sunday’s Super Sport race was run alongside the second Pro-Stock race, and was also run in two parts due to the oil spill on Turn Three and an incident on Turn Nine. Veteran rider Rajini Krishnan was able to use this confusion to his advantage and finish first, just ahead of team-mate R Deepak. K Jagan Dinesh Kumar who snatched third place in the closing minutes of the race.
RACE TWO
The final standings of Sunday’s ProStock race were a repeat of the previous day, but not without some added excitement. The race was run in two parts, as a blown engine resulted in oil on Turn Three, with two riders sliding off into the grass before the race could be stopped two laps in. The race was re- started for three more laps after the track was cleaned, but was again stopped due to an incident at Turn Nine. once again rode a faultless race to secure the third podium step for the TVS Racing team. All three riders are Chennai locals, and were extremely pleased with their performance at their home circuit.