Privateer Adnaan Ahamed claims overall honours; Faseela wins Ladies class

Puttur (Karnataka), 22 May 2022: On a dramatic day of slush and action, it was a glorious day for the unsung riders as local hero Adnaan Ahamed hoisted the flag high for privateers by clinching a well-deserved Overall victory at Rally de Mangaluru, the second round of the MRF MoGrip fmsci National Rally Championship 2W 2022 here on Sunday. Hero MotoSports’ Yuva Kumar and Sathyaraj Arumugam took the second and third place behind Ahmed, in that order.

All the ten bikes of Petronas TVS Racing team did not take the start for Round 2 on Sunday morning. Though issues of fuel pipe during the scrutiny are said to have led to the withdrawal of TVS factory team riders, an official version is awaited.

Sarath Mohan of Malappuram won the Group A Super Bike Expert class with a commanding lead once again to lead the championship table with two victories beating his state-mate Francis Sinan, who had to play second fiddle once again while Asad Khan of Chikkamagaluru came third ahead of another good performance by young lady rider Tanika Shanbagh, who stood overall 11^th.

In the Super Sport 130cc class, Anoop Manjappa stepped up gear in wet conditions and pushed aside the challenge from Round 1 winner, Chalass Bose of Kottayam who was fastest in three stages but the lost ground in SS6. Chalass began with a bang clocking the best time in SS1, as the two Honda Stunners played cat-and-mouse race winning a stage each but Anoop took a decisive lead in SS6 and never looked back. Sudarshan of Chikkamagalur came third astride a Yamaha Gladiator.

In Super Sport 165cc Class, defending champion Ajin Abraham of Kottayam, who missed the first round due to professional obligations took a comfortable win with a lead of over one and a half minute over Chikkamagaluru’s Francis PV, who won the first round. Sasi Kumar from Coimbatore, also on a Hero Impulse, finished third.

VS Naresh from Bengaluru put his Himalayan on the top winning the Royal Enfield class ahead of Arun Joy from Kochi and Abhijeet Sarkar of Bengaluru.

Fazeela from Ernakulam, found the moment ideal to display her talent and skills to claim the Ladies Class with Mangaluru’s Apoorva taking the second spot once again. The 2021 Sprint champion, Deeksha Srivastava, despite losing ground in one of the stages, completed her maiden podium in the Rally Nationals.

Hansraj Saikia from Guwahati, who came all the way from Guwahati provided the North-East flavour to the Nationals winning the Super Sport 400cc Group B class with ease and grace despite a road penalty as plenty of lead over Amogh Nag of Bengaluru. Astride a KTM Duke, Saikia, was looking to gain the much-needed experience, but the victory was a sweet bonus. Vinit Sharma of Indore also made it to the podium.

And it was also a day to celebrate for experienced Pinkesh Thakkar, who put Aprilia on a winning pedestal. With an entry as Aprilia JB Racing, he won the class astride his SR150 while Bengaluru’s Goutham N took second and Muzaffar Ali of Pune came third.

Round 2 Results (Provisional):

Overall:

1. Adnan Ahmed, Mangaluru (Privateer – Hero Xpulse) 00:53:43.222;

2. Sathyaraj Arumugam, Coimbatore (Hero MotoSports – Hero Xpulse) 00:58:11.981;

3. Yuva Kumar, Bengaluru (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 00: 58:47.042;

4. Sarath Mohan, Malappuram (Pvt. Husqvarna FE450) 00:58:51.904;

5. Karan Kumar, Coimbatore (Privateer – Hero Xpulse) 00:59:24.532;

6. Sinan Francis, Kochi (Privateer – KTM 450EXCF) 00:59:24.532.

Class 1A: Super Bike Expert Group A:

1. Sarath Mohan, Malappuram (Privateer – Husqvarna FE450) 00:58:51.904;

2. Sinan Francis, Kochi (Pvt. – KTM 450EXCF) 1:00:35.064;

3. Asad Khan, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. – TVS Apache RTR 180) 01:04:32.645;

4. Tanika Shanbagh, Satara, (Pvt. – Husqvarna TE 350) 01:05:48.979;

5. Jatin Jain, Nagpur, (Pvt. – KTM 450EXCF) 1:06:36.170;

Class 2: Super Sport 130 Group B:

1. Anoop Manjappa, Bengaluru (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:11:52.473;

2. Chalass K Bose, Kottayam, (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:13:49.259;

3. Sudarshan B, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. Yamaha Gladiator) 01:14:51.156;

4. Dilip Raj, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. Honda 130) 01:20:32.129;

5. Vinoth Kumar S, Erode (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:32:05.188;

Class 3: Super Sport 165 Group B:

1. Ajin Abraham, Kottayam (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:06:02.886;

2. Francis PV, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:07:37.329;

3. Sasi Kumar K, Coimbatore (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:07:46.535;

4. Shabuddin Sayed, Goa (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:09:08.627;

5. Goutham Rao, Bengaluru, (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:10:22.771;

Class 4: Super Sport 260 Group B:

1. Adnaan Ahamed, Mangaluru (Pvt. – Hero Xpulse) 00:58:11.981;

2. Sathyaraj Arumugam, Coimbatore (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 00:58:47.042;

3. Yuva Kumar, Bengaluru (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 00:58:49.314;

4. Karan Kumar, Coimbatore (Pvt. Hero Xpulse) 00:59:24.532;

5. Arun T, Tumkur (Pvt. Hero Xpulse) 01:01:48.671.

(Only 9 of the 13 riders completed the Rally)

Class 5: Super Sport 400 Group B:

1. Hansraj Saikia, Guwahati (Pvt. KTM Duke) 01:11:51.153; (Including 1 min road penalty)

2. Amogh Nag, Bengaluru (Pvt. – KTM 390) 01:15:02.719; (including 2 min road penalty)

3. Vinit Sharma, Indore (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:19:29.197;

4. Ashwin Anantha Raju, Bengaluru (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:20:39.219;

(Four of the six riders finished in this class)

Class 6: Super Sport 550 Group B:

1. Naresh VS, Bengaluru (Pvt. Royal Enfield Himalayan) 01:13:16.106;

2. Arun Joy, Kochi (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01:17:28.691;

3. Abhijeet Sarkar, Bengaluru (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01:45:56.651; (Including 1min 10sec Road Penalty);

(Only three of the four bikes finished in this class)

Class 7: Ladies Class Group B:

1. Fazeela U, Ernakulam (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:26:51.367;

2. Apoorva B, Mangaluru (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:36:41.442;

3. Deeksha Srivastava, Pune (Pvt. Hero Impulse); 02:55:49.970 (Including 9min road penalty);

(Priyanka Dutta DNF in SS4; Only three bikes of the four that started finished; Aishwarya did not start)

Class 8: S0 to S3 Scooter 210cc Group B:

1. Pinkesh Thakkar, Bhopal, (Aprilia JB Racing -Aprilia SR150) 01: 25:32.419;

2. Goutham N, Bengaluru (Pvt. – TVS NTorq) 01:26:27.179;

3. Muzaffar Ali, Pune (Pvt. – Aprilia SR150) 01:34:03.878.

(3 of the 4 bikes that started finished; 4 TVS riders ‘Did Not Start’ (DNS) Subramanya T. DNF in SS3;)

Class 9:

1. Suchith Kumar Reddy, Bengaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:17:22.079; (Incl. 2min road penalty);

2. Vivek Vijayan, Bengaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:23:41.466; (Incl. 1min road penalty);

3. Safwan Hussain, Mangaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:33:29.871; (Incl. 1min40sec road penalty);

4. Siddartha Wodeyar, Bengaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:37:03.253;

Eom/provisional results from MRF Live Timing.