Jagan bids adieu winning 11 Nationals; Maiden National title for Jagathishree
Chennai, 6 October 2024: Veteran Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing), the “King of 165”, bid adieu to his illustrious racing career after clinching his 11th National title to provide an emotional finish to the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2024 – Powered by STORM at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.
Joining him on the National Championship rostrum were Sarthak Chavan (Pune, TVS Racing) in Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open; Abdul Basim (Chennai, Rockers Racing), Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai, One Racing), an archaeologist in the making, in the Girls, Stock 165cc, and Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) category.
Jagan, the 36-year-old from Chennai, rolled back the years with a stunning last-corner overtake while winning the concluding Pro-Stock 165cc Open race that also saw his old mates, KY Ahamed and Deepak Ravikumar following him home, leaving the two next generation riders and team-mates, Sarthak Chavan and Chiranth Vishwanath to scrap for minor positions. The win, his third of the season, put him five points clear of Ahamed in the final championship standings.
“I am finished with my racing career. I have two young daughters, and they need all my attention now. I started this season with a dream of ending my career with a championship win and I am happy I was able to accomplish that. Now, it is time for the new generation, Sarthak and Chiranth, to step up,” said Jagan, who won the first of his 11 National titles in 2009.
Meanwhile, Sarthak lent credence to Jagan’s words by becoming only the second rider after Rajini Krishnan (2007) to win two titles in the same season – the Pro-Stock 301-400cc and the TVS RTE Electric. “It’s been a great year for me, and I look forward to more success in the coming seasons,” said the 17-year-old from Pune who scored an astonishing nine wins from 10 starts in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category.
Among the performances of the day was that of Chennai’s Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) who started last and finished third in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc race, behind team-mates Sarthak Chavan, who thus notched his ninth win in 10 starts, and Chiranth Vishwanath. Ravikumar, who missed Saturday’s race owing to the demise of his grandmother, roared through the high-quality grid today for a well-deserved podium finish.
Jagathishree (One Racing), the 20-year-old from Chennai who has chosen archaeology as a profession, and who scored a fortuitous win yesterday after two title contenders, Ryhana Bee and Rakshitha Dave, crashed. She too suffered a similar fate in Race-2 today but picked herself up to complete the race in sixth place and picked up 10 points that fetched her the championship.
In front of her, Chennai school girl Rakshitha Dave (Castrol Power1 Ultimate) won the race untroubled with Bengaluru’s Shuria SP (One Racing) and Aisvariya V (One Racing) from Coimbatore finishing second and third, respectively. Ryhana Bee, nursing a wrist injury from yesterday’s crash, did not start the race. Jagathishree copped a Rs 2,000/- fine for crossing the cheqeuered flag twice, but retained her sixth spot that helped her win the title.
Mysuru’s Tasmai Cariappa (Motul Sparks Racing) won his second race of the season in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category after a tough fight. The result put him in second spot on the leaderboard behind Abdul Basim (Rockers Racing) who suffered a crash and finished 17th.
Later, Chennai’s 24-year-old Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan, who has roots in Kodagu, Karnataka, was content to finish third in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) race which was sufficient for him to clinch the championship in this category. Bengaluru’s 17-year-old Savion Sabu (Mad Rabbit Racing) won a close race from experienced Raj Kumar (RDX Torque Racing).
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup
Bengaluru teenager Savion Sabu finished the season in the NSF 250R category with his maiden win and occupied second in the championship behind Malappuram’s Mohsin Paramban. The eight-lap race saw Savion, studying online in 11th standard, take an early lead which he nursed to the finish while Mohsin came in second ahead of Hyderabad’s Rajender Beedani.
TVS India One-Make Championship
Senthilkumar C from Coimbatore snatched the title in the Open (Apache RR 310) category with a second-place finish in the concluding race which Chennai’s Manoj Yesuadian won. Another Chennai rider, Jayanth P took the third spot.
Bengaluru’s Harshith V Bogar took the title in the Rookie category though he finished second behind Akarsh Jangam. CS Kedarnath completed the podium.
Sarthak Chavan wrote another piece of history by becoming the first-ever Electric motorcycle racing champion as he finished unbeaten across five races in the TVS RTE Electric category.
The results (Provisional – all 6 laps unless mentioned):
National Championship – Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open (Race-2): 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, TVS Racing) (11mins, 06.720secs); 2. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru, TVS Racing) (11:08.130); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, TVS Racing) (11:08.848). Rider Champion: Sarthak Chavan (Pune, TVS Racing). Champion Team: TVS Racing
Pro-Stock 165cc Open (Race-2): 1. Jagan Kumar (Chennai, TVS Racing) (11:40.405); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, TVS Racing) (11:40.508); 3. KY Ahamad (Chennai, TVS Racing) (11:40.667). Rider Champion: Jagan Kumar (Chennai, TVS Racing). Champion Team: TVS Racing.
Stock 301-400cc (Novice) Race-2: 1. Savion Sabu (Bengaluru, Mad Rabbit Racing) (12:13.970); 2. Raj Kumar C (Coimbatore, RDX Torque Racing) (12:14.003); 3. Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) (12:15.905). Rider Champion: Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate). Champion Team: RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate.
Novice (Stock 165cc) Race-2: 1. Tasmai Cariappa (Mysuru, Motul Sparks Racing) (12:59.465); 2. Kamal Navas (Chennai, Rockers Racing) (13:00.752); 3. CS Kedarnath (Tirupati, Alpha Racing) (13:03.426). Rider Champion: Abdul Basim (Chennai, Rockers Racing). Champion Team: Rockers Racing.
Girls (Stock 165cc) Race-2 (5 laps): 1. Rakshitha Dave (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) (11:05.170); 2. Shuria SP (Bengaluru, One Racing) (11:17.947); 3. Aisvariya V (Coimbatore, Motul Sparks Racing) (11:20.239). Rider Champion: Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai, One Racing). Champion team: One Racing
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (NSF 250R) Race-2 (8 laps): 1. Savion Sabu (Bengaluru) (15:03.809); 2. Mohsin Paramban (Malappuram) (15:10.876); 3. Beedani Rajender (Hyderabad) (15:17.258). Rider Champion: Mohsin Paramban (Malappuram).
TVS Racing One-Make Championship – Open (Apache RR 310) Race-2: 1. Manoj Yesuadiyan (Chennai) (11:42.927); 2. Senthilkumar C (Coimbatore) (11:47.034); 3. Jayanth P (Chennai) (11:51.216). Rider Champion: Senthilkumar C (Coimbatore).
Rookie (Apache RTR 200) Race-2: 1. Akarsh Jangam (Vijayawada) (13:17.500); 2. Harshith V Bogar (Bengaluru) (13:17.929); 3. CS Kedarnadh (Tirupati) (13:18.113). Rider Champion: Harshith V Bogar (Bengaluru).
TVS RTE Electric (3 laps): 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune) (05:22.071); 2. Alwin Sundar A (Chennai) (05:27.526); 3. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru) (05:34.935). Rider Champion: Sarthak Chavan (Pune).
Media (Apache RTR 200, 5 laps): 1. Praveen Kumar (Chennai) (11:22.005); 2. Charan Karthik G (Pune).
