Anish Shetty, Mohamed Mikail crowned champions for 2019

David Bodapati September 28, 2019

1,003 2 minutes read

Anish Shetty exulting after sealing the championship in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc category on Saturday. Photos by Anand Philar

Chennai, 28 Sept 2019: Bengaluru-based fitness trainer Anish Damodara Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) posted his sixth win in a row to annex the Pro-Stock 201-300cc title in the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT, here today.

Meanwhile, 15-year old Mohamed Mikail from Chennai chalked up his sixth consecutive win and seventh from eight starts in the NSF 250R (FIM Moto3-spec bikes) category of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup with two races to spare and which would be run tomorrow. Finishing second behind Mikail was 12-year old Sarthak Shrikant Chavan from Pune ahead of Gadag’s 19-year old Kritik Vasanth Habib.

Abhimanyu Gautam celebrating his win in the Novice (Stock 165cc) Race on Saturday.

Also scoring a decisive win was Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) from Jind, Haryaya, in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category to move to the top of the leaderboard in this class.

Experienced Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) eked out a close win over TVS Racing’s Jagan Kumar to jump into championship lead in the Pro-Stock 165cc category. He leads team-mate Rajiv Sethu by six points. Sethu finished fifth. Kevin Kannan ensured a double podium for Honda by coming in third ahead of TVS Racing’s KY Ahamed after the six-lap race was red-flagged and reduced to four following a big crash involving two riders, Akash C and Anand R (both riders ok) at the back of the field.

The 24-year old Shetty, who hails from Hubballi, Karnataka, took an unassailable lead in the championship standing with a tally of 190 points, 67 clear of second-placed team-mate Abhishek Vasudev, with one more race to be run tomorrow and a maximum of 50 points at stake. Incidentally, it is Shetty’s second championship, having won the Pro-Stock 165cc title last year.

The race was reduced to four laps from scheduled six following a crash involving Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) and Satyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing) who were competing in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category that was run on the same grid as the 201-300cc class.

Md Mikail (Chennai), who sealed the NSF 250R title in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup

After the race, Gusto Racing’s Karthik Mateti from Hyderabad was declared winner (301-400cc) ahead of fellow-Hyderabadi Rahil Pillari Shetty (Sparks Racing) and Chennai’s KY Ahamed (TVS Racing). Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing), who finished fourth, continues to head the championship with a 12-point lead over Ahamed with Mateti a further 11 points behind in third spot.

“At the start of the season, my goal was to win the championship in my category and I am happy that could achieve that. My thanks to my entire team, especially owner Ramji Govindarajan sir who all worked hard towards my success. My aim is to compete and win all formats of two-wheeler racing. Earlier this year, I won the Desert Storm (Cross-country Rally) and now this.

“Today, I knew if I win, I would seal the championship. Initially, I rode hard, seeing I had a good lead, I eased up. To win six races in a row is just amazing!” said a beaming Shetty.

The results (Provisional, all 6 laps unless mentioned):

National Championship:

Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Karthik Mateti (Gusto Racing India) (07:43.694); 2.Rahil PIllari Shetty (Sparks Racing) (07:45.529); 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (07:45.650).

Pro-Stock 201-300cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Ansih D Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:02.611); 2. Mathana Kumar S (Honda Erula Atomic Racing) (08:04.556); 3. Mithun Kumar PK (Honda Erula Atomic Racing) (08:06.279).

Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Sarath Kumar s(Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:05.465); 2.K Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (08:05.639); 3. K Kannan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:06.066).

Novice (Stock 165cc) Race-1: 1. Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) (13:05.011); 2. Manoj Y (Team Motomaniacz Racing) (13:08.802); 3. Annish Samson (Team Speed-Up Racing) (13:08.970).

One-Make Championship organised by MMSC:

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-1): 1. Md Mikail (Chennai) (11:07.289); 2. Sarthak Shrikant Chavan (Pune) (11:10.531); 3. Kritik Vasant Habib (Gadag) (11:10.624). CBR 150 (Race-1): 1. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) (13:11.576); 2. AS James (Chennai) (13:14.024); 3. Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) (13:15.938).

TVS Open (RR 310) Race-1): 1. Soorya PM (Chennai) (11:56.038); 2. Anand R (Chennai) (11:57.899); 3. Sivanesan Sethu (Chennai) (12:00.715). Novice (RTR 200) Race-1: 1. Anish Samson (Bengaluru) (13:13.028); 2.Manoj V (Chennai) (13:13.061); 3. Ullas Santrupt (Bengaluru) (13:13.188). Girls (RTR 200) 5 laps: 1. Lakiya Lee (Chennai) (11:29.416); 2. Nivetha Jessica (Chennai) (11:39.457); 3. Haritha Muralikrishnan (Chennai)(11:40.534).