Chennai, 5 July 2018: The slick tyre made a promising debut and received a thumbs up from all the riders who used them during the free practice session as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship commenced at the MMRT circuit here on Thursday.
MRF supplied slick tyres for the premier Super Sport Indian (165cc) and the Pro-Stock 301-400cc classes. The impact of the slick tyres, being used for the first time in the championship, had an immediate impact with timings improving by about two seconds with the likelihood of dropping further at race pace this weekend.
The fastest rider on the track today in the 165cc class, KY Ahamed of TVS Racing, who leads the Super Sport Indian 165cc class following a double win in the first round last month, spoke glowingly about the MRF slick tyres after the practice session.
“We all are very happy with the MRF slick tyres. The tyres offer far better grip and I had more confidence taking the corners than before without any fear of crashing. I did 1:56 today and I feel, this timing could come down further at race pace. It is just a question of getting used to the slicks and with more confidence, we can go quicker,” said Ahamed.
The MRF slick tyres received equally good reviews in the Honda Ten10 camp with experienced international rider Sarath Kumar saying: “The slicks are definitely good and we could lean much more in the corners with confidence due to the high grip.”
In fact, Ahamed, his team-mate and defending champion Jagan Kumar, and Sarath were all in the one minute, 56 seconds bracket with others not far behind, thus raising the prospects of close races over the weekend.
Karthik Mateti of Sparks Racing topped the time sheets in the Novice category (Stock, up to 165cc), clocking 02:08.975 while Hyderabad’s Satyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing) was the quickest in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc class and Ryhana Bee (Sparks Racing) topped among Girls (Stock, up to 165cc).
The results (Free Practice):
Super Sport Indian & Pro-Stock165cc: 1. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (01min, 56.177secs); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (1:56.552); 3. Sarath Kumar (Ten 10 Racing) (1:56.796).
Pro-Stock 301-400cc: 1. Satyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing) (01:56.147); 2. Dinesh Kumar (Team Alisha Abdullah) (01:56.284); 3. Peddu Sriharsha (Sparks Racing) (01:56.284).
Novice (Stock, up to 165cc): 1. Karthik Mateti (Sparks Racing) (2:08.975); 2. Aditya Rao I (Sparks Racing) (2:09.555); 3. Annish Samson (Speedup Racing) (2:09.702).
Girls (Stock, up to 165cc): Ryhana Bee (Sparks Racing) (02:15.631); 2. Ann Jennifer (Sparks Racing) (02:16.566); 3. Shruthi Nagarajan (Apex Racing Academy) (02:17.364).
