Chennai, 9 July 2017: Riders from Honda Ten10 Racing team put in dominant performances as Rajiv S
Mithun Kumar, winner of the Pro-Stock race on Sunday 9Jul2017 Image by Anand Philar
ethu and Mithun Kumar hogged the limelight even as another youngster Amarnath Menon of Gusto Racing achieved a grand double in the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship which concluded at the MMRT track, Sriperumbudur, near here 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 Kumar, swept all three podium spots in the Pro-Stock (up to 165cc) category.
Equally impressive was 21-year old Amarnath 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 incident-filled Stock (up to 165cc) race that boasted a grid of 39 riders and red-flagged after two laps following a series of crashes before re-starting to complete the scheduled five laps.
Much of the focus today 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 well-judged 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 KY 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 Kumar while Prabhu Arunagiri (RACR) finished third.
“I had a tough fight with Jagan initially and after he passed me at the Bridge Complex, I decided to bide my time before trying to regain the lead. But he crashed soon after and I broke free to win,” said Sethu who through meditation has learnt to reign in his aggression and impatience.
Mithun Kumar 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 yesterday, came in second and third, respectively.
“I was very disappointed yesterday when my bike had some electrical issues. Today, I started from pole and managed to open up a big lead. In the latter half of the race, I decided to play safe and just cruised,” said 23-year old Mithun who had won both the races in the first round.
The results (Provisional): Super Sport Indian (165cc, 9 laps): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten10 Racing) (18 mins:11.528 secs); 2. Mathana Kumar S (Honda Ten10 Racing) (18:15.594); 3. Prabhu Arunagiri (RACR) (18:16.178).
Super Sport Indian (300-400cc, 10 laps): 1. Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) (11:54.706); 2. Deepak Ravi Kumar (MotoRev) (11: 54.865); 3. Vivek Pillai (Rockers Racing) (11:55.134).
Pro-Stock (165cc, 9 laps): 1. Mithun Kumar PK (Honda Ten10 Racing) (18:55.557); 2. Anish D Shetty (Honda Ten10 Racing) (19:06.148); 3. Aravind Balakrishnan (Honda Ten10 Racing) (19:06.610).
Stock (Novice, 165cc, 6 laps):1. Peddu Sri Harsha (Sparks Racing) (11:23.303); 2. Vysakh Sobhan (Speed Up Racing) (11:25.804); 3.Anup Kumar M (RACR) (11:28.032).
One-Make Championship – Honda CBR250 Open (Race 1, 6 laps): 1. Hari Krishnan (Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:35.539); 2. Arvind Balakrishnan (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (12:36.307); 3. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (12:40.917). Race 2 (9 laps): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten10 Racing) (2:02.550); 2. Anish D Shetty (Honda Ten10 Racing) (18:59.675); 3. Aravind Balakrishnan (Honda Ten10 Racing) (19:00.290).
Honda CBR150 (Novice, 6 laps): 1. Satyanarayana (Hyderabad) (13:28.437); 2. Amala Jerald A (Chennai) (13:28.861); 3. Vysakh Sobhan (Kerala) (13:29.072).
TVS Apache RTR 200 (Open, 6 laps): 1. Prabhu V (Chennai) (08:56.086); 2. Sivanesan S (Chennai) (08:56.781); 3. Yashas RL (Bengaluru) (08:57.054). Novice (6 laps): 1. Peddu Sri Harsha (Hyderabad) (13:22.472); 2. Shankar Guru A (Chennai) (13:25.083); 3. Romario J (Chennai) (13: 40.846).
eom/MMSC press release
