Abdul Tanveer wins Rally of Coimbatore; Third victory for Tanika in Ladies class

Coimbatore, 16 July 2023: Former National Champion Abdul Waheed Tanveerof Petronas TVS Racing took an important victory at the Rally of Coimbatore, the third round of the MRF Mogrip fmsci National Rally Championship for two-wheelers 2023 at the Windmill farms of Kethanur, the favourite destination of rally riders near Palladam here on Sunday.

Once again Imran Pasha of TVS did a splendid job finishing an Overall fifth beating many bigger bikes and also duly won his class, the Super Sport 260cc Group B class with ease.

After Rajendra won the first round in Coorg, Tanveer came back with a win at the Coffee stages in Chikkamagalur to halt the winning run of his teammate and now gained crucial points winning his second straight race to fight for the championship.

One of the fastest rallies in the calendar, the high-speed stages of Black Thunder (18.20km) and Thunder World (14.99) were run twice each. The rally promoted by Godspeed Racing, Pune, was professionally managed and hosted by the Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC) lead by Shyam Kothari and Clerk of the Course Prithiviraj respectively.

From the very start, teammates Abdul Tanveer and the reigning champion Rajendra RE began well with the later winning the first stage by just a second but Tanveer returned the favour, with a fastest run in the second stage, but just by a fraction of a second. Then, Rajendra switched up gears and took a 7-second lead in the third, but the fight fizzled out in the last stage, as he suffered an unfortunate brake issue and lost by just a little over four seconds. “My rear brakes failed in the last stage,” said a disappointed Rajendra, but promised, “We had a good fight and definitely I will come back stronger.”

While Petronas TVS Racing continued its domination sweeping all the top-three overall places, Nataraj R, also a product of TVS, but now running as a privateer, put his brand new 2023 KTM 450 rally spec on top coming out triumphant in the in the Premier Super Bike Expert class beating Suhail Ahmed by a mile.

Meanwhile, Tanika Shanbagh kept the Hero Motosport flag flying with a strong victory in the Ladies Class. Fighting on equal footing with the male riders, she took a creditable 36^th place among the 88 riders who finished the rally. Another new recruit of Hero Motosport, Tanaya Singh of Pune stood second with Palakkad’s Fazeela completing the podium.

Uttarkhand’s Akhand Pratap Singh astride a Duke 390 won the Super Sport 400cc Group B class while Yogesh P put his Impulse on the top in the SS 165cc class.

In the Super Sport 550cc Bullet class, Bengaluru’s Naresh VS notched up an easy victory while TVS rider Syed Asif, astride a NTorq, won the Scooter Class. Super Stock up to 450cc Group D class saw two riders from Kulu Manali take the top two spots. Nithish Bhardwaj won the race ahead of Shivam Thakur. Both the privateers were on an XPulse. A Tharun, a privateer from Avinashi won the Star of Tamil Nadu, the local class.

Satara’s Tanika Shanbag (Ladies Class), Nataraj (Expert), Imran Pasha (SS 260cc), Syed Asif (Scooter) and Nithish Bhardwaj (SS up to 450cc) have won all the three rounds thus far and are leading the championship in their respective classes.

Provisional Results:

OVERALL:

1. #2 Abdul Waheed Tanveer (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS, Mysore) 56min, 49.928seconds;
2. #1 Rajendra RE (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS Racing, Shivamogga), 56:54.443;
3. #3 Samuel Jacob (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS Racing, Udupi) 57:14.986.
4. #5 Nataraj R (KTM, privateer, Bengaluru) 58: 35.799;
5. #15 Imran Pasha (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS Racing, Mysore) 01:00:36.501;
6. #17 Sachin D (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS Racing, Bengaluru) 01:01:23.866;

CLASS 1: SUPER BIKE – (PRO EXPERT) GROUP A:

• #2 Abdul Waheed Tanveer (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS, Mysore) 56min, 49.928seconds;
• #1 Rajendra RE (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS Racing, Shivamogga), 56:54.443;
• #3 Samuel Jacob (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS Racing, Udupi) 57:14.986.

CLASS 2: SUPER BIKE – (EXPERT) GROUP A:

1. #5 Nataraj R (KTM, privateer, Bengaluru) 58: 35.799;
2. #13 Suhail Ahmed  (KTM, Pvt, Bengaluru) 01: 01:51.959;
3. #8 Aman Prabhakar Pawade (KTM, Pvt, Nagpur) 01:01:58.615.

CLASS 4: SUPER SPORT 260 GROUP B:

1. #15 Imran Pasha (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS Racing, Mysore) 01:00:36.501;
2. #17 Sachin D (Apache RTR, Petronas TVS Racing, Bengaluru) 01:01:23.866;
3. #16 T Arun (Xpulse, Hero MotoSports, Hassan)  01:01:50.697.

CLASS 3: SUPER SPORT 165 GROUP B:

1. #43 Yogesh P (Impulse, Pvt, Bengaluru) 01.07.08.212;
2. #96 Abrar Pasha (Impulse, Pvt, Shivamogga) 01.08.09.257;
3. #42 Francis PV (Impulse, Pvt, Chikkamagaluru) 01.08.12.510.

CLASS 5: SUPER SPORT 400 GROUP B:

1. #48 Akhand Pratap Singh (Duke 390, Pvt, Uttarakhand) 01:05:02.310;
2. #47 Russel Jossy (KTM, Pvt, Mumbai) 01:05:58.002;
3. #51 Aakash Aithal (KTM, Pvt, Puttur) 01:08:41.646.

CLASS 6: SUPER SPORT 550 GROUP B:

1. #54 Naresh VS (Royal Enfield, Pvt, Bengaluru) 01:06:36.009;
2. #57 Mohammed Zaheer (Royal Enfield, Pvt, Bengaluru) 01:06:39.556;
3. #53 Jeemon Anthony (Royal Enfield, Pvt, Ernakulam) 01: 08:50.603.

CLASS 7: SCOOTERS UP TO 210cc GROUP B:

1. #60 Syed Asif (NTorq, Petronas TVS Racing) 01:10:40.975;
2. #65 Shamim Khan (NTorq, Petronas TVS Racing) 01:11:46.404;
3. #64 Goutham N (Aprilia 150, JB Racing, Bengaluru) 01:15:29.063.

CLASS 9: SUPER STOCK UPTO 450cc GROUP D:

1. #67 Nithish Bhardwaj (Xpulse, Pvt, Kulu Manali) 01:07:37.880;
2. #72 Shivam Thakur (Xpulse, Pvt, Kulu Manali) 01:08:09.736;
3. #71 Eldhose P Benny (Xpulse, Pvt, Thrissur) 01:08:58.158;

CLASS 8: WOMEN’s CLASS GROUP B:

1. #87 Tanika Shanbhag (XPulse, Hero MotoSports, Satara) 01:09:48.803;
2. #91 Tanaya Singh (XPulse, Hero MotoSports, Pune) 01:13:01.502;
3. #88 Fazeela U (Impulse, Pvt. Palakkad) 01:13:54.462.

CLASS 10: STAR OF TAMIL NADU:

1. #108 A Tharun (Pvt. Coimbatore) 01:09:47.943;
2. #104 G Jagadeesh (XPulse, Pvt, Coimbatore) 01:10:27.483;
3. #101 Ricarius Venchaslaus (Pvt, Coimbatore) 01:10:49.163.

(22 Bikes did not finish, including two who were excluded and six ‘did not start’)

Ends/