2016 MMSC 2W NRC
As the 2016 season draws to a close, we bring you all the action from the final round of the national two-wheeler racing championship
Jagan Kumar wins his fifth national championship as bike racing comes to an end
TVS RACING DOMINATED the season in the Super Sport Indian class with Jagan Kumar bagging his fifth title, while Rajiv Sethu won his first title in Pro Stock 165cc for Honda Ten10 Racing. It was Joseph Mathew who bagged two separate championship trophies, winning the National Stock and Suzuki Gixxer Cup Novice class. Here is what went down at the fifth and final round of the MRF Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC) that took place at the MMRT in Sriperumbudur on January 20-22, 2017.
Super Sport Indian upto 165cc:
The points tally till the fourth round in the Super Sport Indian (165cc) was lead by TVS’s Jagan Kumar with 141 points. On the final weekend, Jagan Kumar was the fastest man in the class, clocking 1 minute 58.3 seconds to take pole. Jagan’s advantage paid off as he lead Race 1 comfortably from Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) and Mathana Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing). In Race 2, S Kannan (TVS Racing) finished right on Jagan’s tail who took a double win to clinch the title. This was Jagan’s fifth title in recent years. TVS swept the constructors championship as their riders took home 1-2-3 in the championship.
Super Sport Indian 300-400cc:
Ami Van Poederooijen (Rockstar Racing) was leading the championship coming in to the weekend. Both races of the weekend ended the same way — Poederooijen coming out first, with teammates Amarnath Menon K and Abhishek V finishing second and third respectively. Ami was crowned the champion for the newly introduced category in INMRC.
Pro Stock upto 165cc:
Coming in to the weekend, Hari Krishnan (Honda Ten10 Racing) led his teammate Rajiv Sethu by a narrow 8-point margin. The experienced Vivek Pillai (Rockers Racing) started on pole but things didn’t go as planned for the former 600cc winner as Race 1 saw the young Rajiv Sethu charging from last position on the grid. Sethu was forced to start from there after he suffered an engine blow during qualifying, but he climbed up the order to win ahead of his teammate Mithun Kumar and A Prabhu finishing second and third. Rajiv once again proved his mettle by taking the lead in Race 2, taking home a double win and his maiden title. It was a disastrous
weekend for Hari Krishnan as he crashed in both races despite leading them, costing him the championship.
Stock upto 165cc:
The four-way battle for the title was lead by Anish Shetty (United Tech Torque) till the end of round 4. He started from pole, but was later disqualified for running an illegal machine and it was Joseph Mathew on his Yamaha R15 alongside his teammate Peddu Sri Harsha of Sparks Racing who took 1-2 followed by Abhay Prashan in third. The Sparks racing trio of Sebastian, Joseph and Harsha took home 1-2-3 in Race 2. The disqualification of Anish and Anthony Peter (who was second in the championship) paved the way for Joseph to clinch the title, Yamaha retaining their 2015 manufacturer crown.
Honda CBR 250 Open:
After a disappointing run in the national championship, Honda Ten10’s Hari Krishnan started from pole and maintained the lead from Mathana Kumar and Ananth Raj, finishing in this order in both races. This was the first time this season that Hari managed a double win, but it was Mathana who lead on points and took the title.
Honda CBR 150 Novice:
Anish managed to get his CBR 150 R on to pole, but his bad luck continued as he ended up losing Race 1 to Piyush Ranjan from Patna who was closely followed by Soorya P M and Shreyas Shankar in second and third. Piyush won Race 2 as well with the Kerala boy Mahesh Murali and Soorya P M taking home second and third. With a safe fourth place in Race 2, Anish added valuable points to his kitty as he took the title in CBR 150 R category.
All-ladies Honda race:
In the Honda all-ladies support class, Aishwarya Pissay clocked 2 minutes 18.15 seconds to take pole and went on to improve her own timing to 2 minutes 16.6 seconds in the race marking her as the fastest woman of the weekend on board the CBR 150 R. She was followed by the local girls Ryhana Bee and Niranjanie Ravishankar who later settled for second and third.
TVS Apache RTR 200 Open:
Prashanth Kumar was on pole in Open category followed by Arun Muthukrishnan and K Kannan in P2 and P3. The three kept swapping places in Race 1 and finally it was Kannan in first with Prashanth in third
while Arun retained his position in second. In Race 2, Arun sealed his win, with Kannan in second and the veteran Shyam Shankar took third spot. Kannan managed to get enough out of the weekend to claim the title.
TVS Apache RTR 200 Novice:
Bangalore boy Yashas RL started from pole in the Novice category and went to dominate the weekend with a double win and bagged the Novice title. Hari Prasath and Yuvaraj finished second and third, while in Race 2, Peddu Sri Harsha and Aditya Rao were on the podium alongside Yashas.
AATA:
The TVS support race for females trained under Alisha Abdullah, witnessed the pacesetter Haritha R taking the win on board the Apache RTR 160 ahead of Goa’s Olesya and fellow Bangalorean Renuka Gajendran.
Suzuki Gixxer Open:
With the former Group D winner Meka Vidhuraj leading the points tally it was Kanpur’s Vivian Gladwin who took the pole slot. Things got mixed up when Gladwin ran wide when he was in contention for the win in Race 1, giving way to Aaron Gunawardena the win in Race 1, and he won Race 2 as well. It was Rajinikanth who finished a second in both races. Meka finished third and fourth in Race 1 and 2, allowing him to clinch the title.
Suzuki Gixxer Novice:
It was the local boys who stole the show with Joseph Mathew being the fastest on the Gixxer and he converted his pole position into a much needed double win to take top honors in the class. The second rung of the podium was held by Vishal S in Race 1 and Amaranth Rajan in Race 2 while Alexander finished third in both races. Notably, Joseph Mathew was the only rider to have won in both the National championship and the One Make Championship.
The riders head for their summer break and will be seen back in action at the INMRC 2017 championship. Talks are on to make the female class as an all-girls championship run in the 2017 season. With TVS Racing dominating the Super Sport Indian category, the big question is whether Honda will be able to give them a run for their money next year. ⌧