Drag champ Hemanth Mudappa raring to go as Motorsport resumes in India
Chennai, 9 October 2020: Hemanth Mudappa won a hat-trick of National titles on 30 December last year. The time when Corona Virus started its havoc, but it was not until two months later, did the sporting world take a beating and Indian motorsports too came to a grinding halt. Since then it was seven months that the Indian motorsports saw no activity. But with the revised calendar announced by the Federation, MMSC Indian National Drag Championship will be the first Nationals to kick-start the motorsports calendar with a `new normal’, what with all the guidelines to tackle Corona Virus.
The first round of the fmsci MMSC Indian National Drag Championship will take place at the drag strip of the Madras Motor Race Track here on Sunday. Hemanth Mudappa, a triple champion, winning the crown in 2017, 2018 and 2019, is raring to go and the Mantra Racing rider is eagerly waiting for the action to start.
The 30-year-old Bengaluru-based rider, who set-up a new National record on way to his triple crown, will take part in the SuperSport 851-1050cc class on a BMW S1000rr and in the 1050cc and above class astride a Suzuki Hayabusa tuned by champion architect Sharan Pratap of Mantra Racing, Bengaluru.
“It is a long time and we are all eager to get back on the track. I am feeling good and look forward to another good season. My thanks to Mantra racing and all my sponsors, supporters and fans,” said Mudappa.
Off the track, the Coorgi, is primarily into civil contracts and he is also a partner in a leading sports nutrition brand, `1up Nutrition India’ and is based in Bengaluru. And not to forget, he is a fitness freak and physical fitness is his top priority, which he advocates for all.
Among the 11 National championships in the Indian Motorsports calendar, the Madras Motorsports Club promoted Drag Racing will begin this Sunday followed by Karting and Racing championship. The flag-ship Indian National Rally Championship is scheduled to start in December.
It will all Four stroke and the classes to be run will be, the upto 165cc SS Indian, 226 to 365 SS Indian, 361 TO 550 SS Indian, 851 to 1050 SS and Above 1051 Super Sport.
For girls, upto 165cc four stroke Novice class, two stroke upto 130cc Super Sport and two stroke 131 to 165cc Super Sport.
Other National champions in different class expected to take part are girls’ champion Nivetha Jessica, Bengaluru’s Aiyaz, the Nationial Champion in the 361-550cc Supersport Indian class and Chennai challenger Yogeshwaran, who became a champion gaining enough points in the 226-360 Supersport Indian category without a big win beating fellow-Chennai rider AS Alexander. Bengaluru’s Mohammed Rafiq who became champion in both the 2-Stroke categories (up to 130cc and 131-165cc) will also be there. However, it will be Hafeez Khan and Harish Naik, who are once again expected to fight it out with Mudappa for the top honours.
The current drag record stands at 7.976 seconds. Mudappa equalled the record he had set in the 2019 second round in October erasing his own earlier record.
