Double delight for Sethu, Menon
RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
Riders from Honda Ten10 Racing team put in dominant performances as Rajiv Sethu and Mithun Kumar hogged the limelight even as another young gun Amarnath Menon of Gusto Racing achieved a grand double in the second round of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship which concluded at the MMRT track in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai on Sunday.
While 18-year old Sethu, in scoring a double, led a 1-2 finish for Honda Ten10 Racing in the premier Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) class with Mathana Kumar finishing second, the team, spearheaded by Mithun, swept all three podium spots in the pro-stock (up to 165cc) category.
Equally impressive was 21-year old Menon from Kozhikode who extended his domination in the Super Sport Indian (300-400cc) class to repeat his performance of the first round at Coimbatore last month. Menon, thus, has won all four races in his class.
Peddu Sri Harsha (Sparks Racing) survived an incidentfilled stock (up to 165cc) race that boasted a grid of 39 riders and red-flagged after two laps following a series of crashes before restarting to complete the scheduled five laps.
Much of the focus on the day was on the Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) and the pro-stock (up to 165cc) classes which were run on a combined grid.
Like in the first outing on Saturday, Sethu rode a welljudged race. Starting from pole, Sethu yielded ground to reigning champion Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) who made a daring pass on the left-hander in the Bridge Complex only to crash out at Turn-4.
Jagan’s exit came a lap after his team mate K.Y. Ahamed, who was shadowing Sethu had crashed. It gave Sethu a clean run up front and he opened up a gap. for a comfortable win ahead of team mate Mathana while Prabhu Arunagiri (RACR) finished third.
Mithun more than compensated for a horrendous first race where he finished sixth after starting last on the grid due to an errant bike, by destroying the pro-stock field for his third win in four races. His team-mates Anish D. Shetty and Aravind Balakrishnan, winner of the first race on Saturday, came in second and third, respectively.