Hemanth Muddappa clocks stunning 7.9sec, touches 200kmph for gold: MMSC Drag Nationals

Chennai, 6 Oct 2019: Hemanth Muddappa of Mantra Racing stunned the spectators and fans as he clocked the best timing of 7.976 seconds over 302 metres astride his superbike BMW S1000RR at the MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Drag Championship Round 2 which concluded at MMRT, at Irungattukottai, near here on Sunday. He was the first to break the 8-sec barrier on the track, at the MMRT’s start-finish straight.

Earlier on Saturday, in Round-1, Muddappa clocked 8.270 secs in the Unrestricted category.

For the first time, a separate class for the Girls was introduced in the National Championship this year and Nivetha Jessica of Speed-up Racing and Alisha Abdullah shared the spoils bagging a gold each in the first two rounds held on Saturday and Sunday. In Round 1, Jessica clocked 16.516sec for the gold beating Alisha by a fraction of a second, as she timed 16.871. Very popular long-distance biker A Soundari Ananthraj, also from Speed-up Racing, came third in a time of 16.890, another fraction 0f a second deciding the podium places. In Round 2, it was experienced Alisha Abdullah taking control with good reaction time as she clocked 16.851 as Nivetha Jessica was a wee bit slow at the start and had to settle for the second place timing 16.911. Ann Jennifer was third in 17.005.

The week-end saw the first two rounds of the championship and Hemant Mudappa, who took part in the four-stroke Unrestricted Open class clocked a leisurely 8.025 sec in the Free Run before upping the pace to set a Track Record, breaking his own record. But the sheer speed sent the few die-hard fans at the Drag Nationals into elation and Hemanth himself was visibly happy revving up, and later hugging all his friends. “I am very happy to get this timing. After two rounds, I am leading the championship and will be here well-prepared for the next round,” said the Bengalurean who touched a top speed of 217.78 kmph.

Hafizullah Khan, astride a Suzuki Hayabusa, came second in the Unrestricted four-stroke class, timing 8.150 sec while Zubair Ali Jung came third in 8.381 in his Suzuki GSX-R. Both of them also touched speeds of over 200 kmph. All the top three are from Bengaluru. Harish Naik, Ratish Nair and Manohar BN who finished behind the podium winners in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, also touched speeds of 200kmph. Hemanth’s bike was tuned by Sharan J Pratap of Mantra Racing.

The next two rounds of the championship will be held at the same venue on December 28 and 29.

The results (All 4-Stroke unless mentioned):

Unrestricted (Round-1): 1. Hemanth Muddappa (Mantra Racing) (08.270secs); 2. Zubair Ali Jung (08.311); 3. Hafizullah Khan (08.448). Round-2: 1. Hemanth Muddappa (07.976); 2. Hafizullah Khan (08.150); 3. Zubair Ali Jung (08.381).

361-550cc (Round-1): 1. Anandhu KK (12.488); 2. Attaulla Baig (12.805); 3. Aiyaz (13.056). Round-2: 1. Aiyaz (12.455); 2. Attaulla Baig (12.714); 3. Anandhu KK (12.774).

226-360cc (Round-1): 1. Yogeshwaran (13.440); 2. S Ravi (13.913); 3. A Shankar Guru (13.933). Round-2: 1. Alexander AS (13.373); 2. Yogeshwaran (13.499); 3. Bharathraj (13.617).

166-225cc (Round-1): 1. Badusha M (14.996); 2. Manoj Kumar S (15.037); 3. Ahamed Vasin (15.441). Round-2: 1. Deepak N (14.784); 2. Badusha M (14.796); 3. Ahamed Vasin (15.315).

GIRLS (Up to 165cc, Round-1): Nivetha Jessica (Speed Up Racing) (16.516); 2. Alisha Abdullah (16.871); 3. A Soundari Anantharaj (Speed Up Racing) (16.890). Round-2: 1. Alisha Abdullah (16.851); 2. Nivetha Jessica (Speed Up Racing) (16.911); 3. Ann Jennifer (17.005).

2-Stroke 131-165cc (Round-1): 1. Mohammed Rafiq (13.029); 2. Syed Nayeem (13.143); 3. Manoj Kumar (13.304). Round-2: 1. Mohammed Rafiq (12.945); 2. Manoj Kumar (13.303); 3. Rajesh S (13.338).

Up to 130cc (Round-1): Mohammed Rafiq (13.888); 2. R Madhan Kumar (13.965); 3. Syed Nayeem (14.039). Round-2: 1. Mohammed Rafiq (13.571); 2. Syed Nayeem (13.784); 3. R Madhan Kumar (13.869).

(This Report is updated at 11.30 am on 8 October 2019)