Chennai, 16 Dec 2018: Nursing severe wrist pain, Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) managed to finish sixth in the concluding race, but the eight points he scored were sufficient for him to clinch his seventh National title even as Rajiv Sethu led a podium sweep for Honda Ten10 Racing as the curtains came down on the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2018 at the MMRT, here on Sunday.
Jagan, who had crashed heavily in the first race yesterday after making contact with team-mate Ahamed Arif, was unable to generate his usual pace and was content to pick up the points he required to seal the championship with 158 points. Ahead of him, Sethu was in a race of his own to win comfortably from team-mates Sarath Kumar and Mathana Kumar to finish second in the championship behind Jagan with 145 points. While Jagan ended the season with two wins, Sethu won four races, but two non-finishes in Round 3, cost him precious points. Mathana (130) ended up third in the championship in this category.
Earlier, Hyderabad’s Sathyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing) rode a smart race and finish third to take the championship with 159 points in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category. Another Hyderabad rider, Rahil Pillarishetty (Sparks Racing) won from Prabhu Arnuagiri (Team Alisha Abdullah) who finished second in the championship with 147 points ahead of Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing, 142).
Karthik Mateti (Sparks Racing), a 19-year old Commerce student from Hyderabad, emerged champion in the Stock 165cc category by scoring his third win in five races to finish the season with 111 points, well clear of team-mate Aditya Rao Immaneni (70). Incidentally, 13-year old schoolboy from Chennai Kavin Samar Quintal (Team RACR), became the youngest rider this season to win championship points as he finished ninth.
In one of the closest-finishes of the season, Bengaluru-based Anish Damodara Shetty (Honda Ten10 Racing) pipped TVS Racing’s Kannan Subramaniam by three-thousandth of a second in the Pro-Stock 165cc race as the duo crossed the line locked together. Shetty had already sealed the championship in this category and ended his season on a successful note.
The results (Provisional):
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (all 8 laps unless mentioned) – Super Sport 165cc (Race 2): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten10 Racing) (15mins, 41.626secs); 2. Sarath Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing) (15:47.183); 3. Mathana Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing) (15:47.683). Final rider standings: 1. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing, 158 points); 2. Rajiv Sethu (145); 3. Mathana Kumar (130). Team championship: TVS Racing. Manufacturer championship: TVS.
Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race 2): 1. Rahil Pillarishetty (Sparks Racing) (15:29.004); 2. Prabhu Arunagiri (Team Alisha Abdullah) (15:29.197); 3. Sathyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing India) (15:32.809). Final rider standings: 1. Sathyanarayana Raju (159 points); 2. Prabhu Arunagiri (147); 3. Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing, 142). Team championship: Gusto Racing. Manufacturer championship: KTM.
Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-2): 1. Anish Damodara Shetty (Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:12.523); 2. Kannan Subramaniam (TVS Racing) (16:12.520); 3. Anup Kumar (Team Alisha Abdullah) (16:14.942). Final rider standings: 1. Anish Damodara Shetty (181 points); 2. Kevin Kannan (Rockers Racing, 123); 3. Senthil Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing, 118 points). Team championship: Honda Ten10 Racing. Manufacturer championship: Honda.
Stock 165cc (4 laps): Karthik Mateti (Sparks Racing) (08:41.788); 2. Venkatesan I (Pvt) (08:42.661); 3. Anand Rajendran (Pvt) (08:46.975). Final rider standings: 1. Karthik Mateti (111 points); 2. Aditya Rao Immaneni (Sparks Racing, 70); 3. Anand Rajendran (50). Team championship: Sparks Racing. Manufacturer championship: Yamaha.
ONE-MAKE CHAMPIONSHIP – Honda Talent Cup (CBR 250) Race-2: 1. Anish Damodara Shetty (Bengaluru) (16:36.267); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (Bengaluru) (16:36.474); 3.Aravind Balakrishnan (Chennai) (16:36.567). Final rider standings: 1. Abhishek Vasudev (171); 2. Anish Damodar Shetty (165); 3. Senthil Kumar (Chennai, 140).
CBR 150 (Race 2, 6 laps): 1. Mohamed Mikail (Chennai) (13:25.633); 2.Anandhu KK (Chennai) (13:27.569); 3. Varoon S (Chennai) (13:47.180). Race-3: 1. Mohamed Mikail (Chennai) (13:10.101); 2. Kritik Vasan Habib (Gadag) (13:14.564); 3. Anandhu KK (13:16.475). Final rider standings: 1. Mohamed Mikail (233 points); 2. Anandhu KK (151); 3. Kritik Vasan Habib (133).
TVS Girls (Race 2, 5 laps): 1. Ann Jennifer AS (Chennai) (11:57.962); 2. Ryhana Bee (Chennai) (12:02.281); Elakiya Lee (Chennai) (12:13.653). Final rider standings: 1. Ann Jennifer (111 points); 2. Ryhana Bee (104); 3. Elakiya Lee (52).
TVS Apache RR 310 Open (Race 2): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai) (15:32.651); 2. Kannan K (Chennai) (15:34.875); 3. Amarnath Menon K (Calicut) (15:34.881). Final rider standings: 1. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, 176 points); 2. Vivek Pillai (Chennai, 137); 3. Yashas RL (Bengaluru, 136.
Support event – Alisha Abdullah Inter-College Star Race (Race-3, 6 laps): 1. Mervin Kirani (Trichy) (12:47.854); R Vijay Shekar (Chennai) (13:12.758); 3. Reuben Rocky (Kochi) (13:33.948).
