INDIAinF1 profiles two riders to watch out for: Sarath Mohan & Aishwarya Pissay
Sarath Mohan raring to bring laurels for Kerala in Rally Nationals
Kochi, 13 May 2022: As the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs (fmsci) 2022 season begins with the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for 2-wheelers in Chikkamagaluru next Sunday, a rider from Kerala, who is making his mark at the National level, is training hard and raring to go. The one to watch out for, is Sarath Mohan in the Super Sport upto 550cc class who dominated the 2021 season winning all the first three rounds, before his injury.
Sarath Mohan from Mallapuram, who won all the events that he took part in 2021 in both Sprint and traditional Rally Nationals, INRC, had missed his National title as an incident forced him to retire midway during the season. Riding a Husqvarna FE450, he won the first three rounds of the INRC-2W and also clinched the top spot in the first two rounds of the Indian National Sprint Rally Championship (INSRC 2021) including the double in Open class. He conquered all the sprint events, and also had a podium in the Sprint Group A class, which is the only event he missed the top slot and finished second. Later, he met with an unfortunate accident in Sprint Round 3, but the dedicated rider, spent time to rehabilitate and quickly recovered with great will power and support from his medical team. A life-threatening accident in wet conditions that damaged his liver with serious bleeding and internal injury saw him undergo rehab for over three months as he overcome his abdomen trauma.
Soon the privateer, started training again and got into shape in no time. In fact, he trains for six to 8 hours a day at the sand tracks near his house and also travels a distance of about 45 km to train with international athlete of Dakar fame, Harith Noah, another high-performance athlete from Kerala. The duo train on the sandy terrain in Shoranur and, Sarath, who aims to move into the tougher cross-country rallying, takes the advantage of learning from the ‘master’. Sarath who learned the basics in India depends on a private tuner and has honed his skills in Dubai with an eye to go international in 2023. For this year, his target to clinch the National championship which he missed by a whisker last year, as he could not take part in the later rounds.
“Being a professional motorsports athlete, I train hard with a scientifically-charted schedule mixing endurance, speed and strength judiciously. Track days are devoted to special training which sometimes involves tedious practice, alone for hours. But I enjoy what I do as the joy we get when it culminates in good results is a big thrill for all the sacrifices we make. My immediate target is to clinch the National championship in the INRC 2022 in my class,” said the 27-year old, a strict disciplinarian that boosts his hard work.
The former ace Supercross rider moved into Rally Nationals in 2021. A graduate in travel and tourism, the rider took up and successfully finished his studies in Automobile Engineering to enhance his knowledge on the technical side. A consistent and steady rider, he has the ability to attack and push the corners in crunch situations. The five-round INRC-2W begins with back-to-back rounds in Chikkamagaluru on May 15.
AISHWARYA PISSAY, 2019 FIM World Cup CHAMPION
TVS factory rider Aishwarya gunning for sixth National rally title
Bengaluru, 13 May 2022: TVS Racing factory rider Aishwarya Pissay, the only Indian World champion in motorsports, sets sights on a record sixth consecutive Indian National Rally Championship crown as she begins her title defence getting her glittering Apache machine ready for the first round of the GodSpeed Racing’s MRF Mogrip fmsci Indian National Racing Championship (INRC) for 2-wheelers in Chikkamagalur on Sunday.
The 2019 FIM World Cup champion in the Ladies class, put in a commanding performance that saw her make a clean sweep of all the six rounds of the two-wheeler Rally Nationals, besides claiming the bigger cross-country event, the Rally of Himalayas.
The talented queen of Indian motorsports, who rose like a phoenix from a life-threatening injury before her World crown, silenced her critics with creditable deeds on the track with a hugely successful 2022, that firmly focused the limelight on the TVS talent.
With a month-long training in France earlier this year under the watchful guidance of renowned Michael Metge, the Bengaluru-born rider will be looking to seal another National championship even as she prepares for the mother of all events, with more international events ahead of the Dakar 2023.
The versatile rider, who began her biking career, a bit late in 2016, nevertheless vaulted into the record books with a Road Racing National title at Madras Motor Race Track in 2017 and was soon inducted into the stables of TVS Racing. Then she tasted success winning the rally Nationals and never looked back winning the five Rally Nationals in a row for the Hosur-based team.
The 26-year rider, sponsored by TVS and Hyperice, said: “It is a new season and new hopes and the new goals are clear. I have put in the hard work in training, focussed on recovery and time has come to deliver the results. I am eager to sit on my Apache RTR 200 and test myself once again,” concluded Aishwarya, a product of Surana College in Bengaluru, who is determined as ever and is looking to use the Nationals as a pedestal to jump-start her international activity once again.
The first round organised by Chikmagalur Motor Sports Club (CMSC) will run on two Special Stages, Vasanthcool (8km) and Thippanahalli (6km) in the famed coffee estates. The two physical stages will be run four times in the same direction. The total Special Stage rallying distance is 56 km and with a transport of another 53.76 km, the total rally distance is 109.76 km. A record number of about nine lady riders are in the fray.
