Sethu triumphs
Rajiv Sethu takes his fourth consecutive win and is now leading the championship
THE THIRD ROUND OF THE Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship was full of nailbiting moments and intense competition, especially in the premiere Pro-Stock 165cc class. Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing’s Rajiv Sethu made a comeback in the second round and proved his mettle against TVS Racing’s seven-time national champ, Jagan Kumar. Sparks Racing’s Rahil Shetty gave his best shot at both the weekend’s ProStock 301-400cc races. He started P3, and won the six-lap race one with TVS Racing’s Deepak Ravikumar only half a second behind. Rahil was unable to hold off TVS Racing’s KY Ahamed in the reverse-grid second race, somehow managing to finish in second place.
Rajiv and Jagan had a close opening race in the Pro-Stock 165cc class. Rajiv, although getting off to a poor start, managed to overtake Jagan on the last lap creating a cumulative one-minute gap
between him and the seven-time national champ. The second race marked Rajiv’s fourth consecutive win in the class since his entry into the championship. In the second race, KY Ahamed was in close tether with leader Rajiv for almost a photo finish. The win put Rajiv on top of the leaderboard with 100 points, six points ahead of Jagan.
Motomaniacz Racing’s Venkatesan I won two podiums in the Novice Stock 165cc class. Idemitsu Honda’s Anish Shetty took home two wins in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc class while Abhishek Vasudev finished in second place in both the races. Chennai’s Mohammed Mikail led both the races of the NSF250R Cup. Kritik Habib who finished third in the first race, made a comeback to finish second.
Ryhana Bee of Sparks Racing dominated the five-lap women’s 165cc class race again in the third round. Alisha Abdullah and Nivetha Jessica followed for second and third place. ⌧