Ahamed leads 1-2-3 finish for TVS; Anish Shetty heads Honda podium sweep
Rajiv Sethu (No.80) en route Pro-Stock 165cc win. Photos by Anand Philar
Chennai, 8 Sept 2019: KY Ahamed led a podium sweep for TVS Racing in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category while Anish Shetty spearheaded a 1-2-3 finish for Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing while notching his fifth consecutive win in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc class as the fourth round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT, here today.
Earlier, international rider Rajiv Sethu continued his win-spree in the popular Pro-Stock 165cc category after overcoming a poor start as Idemitsu Honda Ten10 team swept all the podium spots. For 21-year old Chennai-based Sethu, it was his sixth win in a row.
A 1-2-3 for Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing in Pro-Stock 165cc class – winner Raiv Sethu (centre), 2nd placed Sarath Kumar (left) and third-placed Kevin Kannan on Sunday.
Also continuing his golden run was Venkatesan I in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category as he headed a 1-2 finish for Team Moto Maniacz Racing with Manoj Y in tow. For the Chennai-based Venkatesan, it was his fourth win on the trot.
Meanwhile, Ryhana Bee, the 22-year old from Chennai, notched her third consecutive win in the Girls category of the National Championship to give herself a 35-point lead over defending champion and Sparks Racing team-mate Ann Jennifer who finished second ahead of Alisha Abdullah (Alishaa Racing).
The podium sweep in the 301-400cc category that Ahamed scripted provided a big cheer for TVS Racing on a weekend dominated by arch-rivals Honda. Ahamed managed to finish ahead of his mentor and former seven-times National champion Jagan Kumar who finally picked up his first points this weekend after failing to finish Race-1 and retiring in both the Pro-Stock 165cc races he had taken part. Championship leader in this category, Deepak Ravikumar came in third.
Sethu, starting from pole position, had another poor start due to electrical problems, but he recovered quickly to tuck in behind Sarath Kumar even as two key TVS Racing rivals, Jagan Kumar and KY Ahamed, retired due to engine problems. Sethu and Sarath exchanged lead until the last lap when the former moved to the front for his sixth consecutive win. Sarath was content to follow home in second place while team-mate Kevin Kannan crossed the finish line in third position for his maiden podium of the season.
Meanwhile, 15-year old Md Mikail, riding the FIM Moto3-spec NSF 250R in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup one-make championship organised by MMSC, completed a treble this weekend as he zipped to his fifth consecutive win and sixth in seven starts.
Ryhana Bee, winner of the Girls’ race
The fifth and final round of the championship will be held at the same venue from September 27 to 29.
The results (Provisional, all 8 laps unless mentioned):
National Championship:
Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-2): 1. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (15mins, 29secs); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (15:30.137); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (15:31.307).
Pro-Stock 201-300cc (Race-2): 1. Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing); Abhishek Vasudev (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:10.234); 3. Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:20.165).
Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-2): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:04.365); 2. Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:04.708); 3. Kevin Kannan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:17.731).
Novice (Stock 165cc, Race-2, 6 laps): 1. Venkatesan I (Motomaniacz Racing) (13:15.876); 2. Manoj Y (Motomaniacz Racing) (13:16.699); 3. Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) (13:17.100).
Girls (Stock 165cc, 5 laps): 1. Ryhana Bee (Sparks Racing) (11:10.964); 2. Ann Jennifer AS (Sparks Racing) (11:14.255); 3. Alisha Abdullah (Alishaa Racing) (11:24.427).
One-Make Championship organised by MMSC:
TVS Open (RR 310, Race-2): 1. Anand R (Chennai) (15:56.926); 2. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (15:58.525); 3. Anup Kumar (16:00.556). Novice (RTR 200, Race-2, 6 laps): 1. Venkatesan I (Chennai) (13:19.642); 2. Manoj Y (Chennai) (13:19.928); 3. Alwin Sundar (Chennai) (13:20.311).
Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-3): 1. Md Mikail (Chennai) (14:38.263); 2. Geoffrey Emmanuel (Chennai) (14:49.888); 3. Kritik Vasant Habib (Gadag) (14:50.114). CBR 150 (Race-2, 6 laps): 1. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) (13:13.907); 2.Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) (13:15.559); 3. S Rajsaswanth (Trichy) (13:15.960).
