Ahamed leads 1- 2 finish for TVS
K. Y. Ahamed scored a sensational last- lap victory in the premier Super Sport Indian 165cc class to lead a 1- 2 finish for TVS Racing in the fourth round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the Madras Motor Racing Track in Chennai on Saturday.
On a day which witnessed crashes in virtually every race, Prabhu Arunagiri ( Team Alisha Abdullah) took the honours in the Pro- Stock 301- 400cc class race that was red- flagged and re- started while Senthil Kumar ( Honda Ten10 Racing) was gifted a victory in the Pro- Stock 165cc race after leader and team- mate Mithun Kumar went down.
Meanwhile, 17- year old collegian from Chennai, Ann Jennifer chalked up her third win of the season in the Girls ( Stock, 165cc) race after surviving a close fight with her Sparks Racing team- mate Ryhana Bee.
The final outcome of the Super Sport race was in suspense until the last lap with Ahamed, his team- mate and defending champion Jagan Kumar and Honda Ten10 Racing’s Rajiv Sethu locked in a tight battle. On the last lap, going into the right- hander before the Bridge Complex “S”, Sethu ran wide and crashed even as Jagan dipped on the inside to overtake. It put Ahamed in the clear as he flashed across the finish line ahead of his mentor Jagan for his third win of the season. Honda Ten10 Racing’s Mathana Kumar came home a distant third, followed by team- mate Sarath Kumar while Sethu picked himself up to finish fifth.
The result took Jagan’s tally to 130 followed by Ahamed ( 116), Sarath and Mathana ( both 82) and Sethu ( 80), going into tomorrow’s Race- 2 of the double- header.
The Pro- Stock 301- 400cc race saw championship leader Amarnath Menon ( Gusto Racing) crashing at Turn- 3 which brought out the red flag. On re- start, Arunagiri, who had led from pole, maintained his track position at the very front to win comfortably even as his nearest challenger Satyanarayana Raju ( Gusto Racing) retired due to an electrical failure. Finishing behind Arunagiri were Sparks Racing duo of Rahil Shetty and Peddu Sriharsha. With his second win of the season, Arunagiri moved up to 89 points to be placed third behind Menon ( 108) and Raju ( 101), going into the second race on Sunday.