Sethu powers to victory in Round 2
Rajiv Sethu of Honda Ten10 Racing, showing maturity beyond his age, coming up with a superb ride to win the premium Super Sport Indian (up to 165cc) class race in the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Morocycle Racing Championship at the MMRT track, in Chennai on Saturday.
Aravind Balakrishnan, 22, brought more cheer to Honda Ten10 Racing team by topping the Pro-Stock class that was run on a combined grid with the Super Sport Indian (165cc) while Kerala’s Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) scored a dominating win, his third in as many outings, in the 300-400cc category.
In the girls (Stock, up to 165cc) category, Ryhana Bee, the 23-year old from Chennai, pulled off a fine win over pole-sitter Aishwarya Pissay (Apex Racing Academy) with a late-braking manoeuvre at turn 4 midway through the five-lap race.
Aishwarya, winner of the first national championship race for girls in Coimbatore last month, eventually came in third behind Madhya Pradesh’s Kalyani Potedar (Team Speed Up Racing).
The 18-year-old Sethu, starting from pole position, yielded ground to reigning national champion Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) early in the six lap race. However, on the third lap, Jagan dropped out of contention because of a technical problem and Sethu forged ahead.
He gradually increased the lead to win from TVS Racing’s K.Y. Ahamed and Prabhu Arunagiri (RACR) with nearly three seconds to spare.
In the Pro-Stock class, pole-sitter Mithun Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing) was shifted to the back of the combined grid for having missed the warm-up lap due to mechanical problems.
It left Aravind Balakrishnan and Aravind Ganesh (Team MotoRev) to fight for top honours. The duo kept trading leads before Balakrishnan won by a small margin.
In the 300-400cc class race, Menon, though starting second on the grid behind Deepak Ravikumar (Team MotoRev) registered a commanding win. Vivek Pillai (Rockers Racing) finished second, Ravikumar was third.
Aravind Balakrishnan topped the Pro-Stock class while Amarnath Menon won in the 300-400cc category