Sarthak Chavan wins a double; Shunted out in other race by teammate

Chennai, June 16: It was a day of the “double” at the Madras International Circuit here on Sunday as the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2024 concluded with the new generation of riders emerging to displace the old guard.

Teenager Sarthak Chavan (Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open), schoolgirl Rakshitha Dave (Girls, Stock 165cc), Abdul Basim (Novice, Stock 165cc), and Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Novice, Stock 301-400cc) won both races this weekend in their respective National Championship categories. Barring Pune’s Sarthak, the other three riders are from Chennai.

Sarthak Chavan, the 17-year-old prodigy, established himself as the top gun in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open class, winning both races over the weekend in an emphatic manner. Following home in P2 in both races was another 17-year-old, Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru, who just couldn’t match Sarthak’s pace. The duo dominated both races leaving the rest to scrap for the other podium spot.

Sarthak, however, missed a possible win, despite starting P7 on the grid, in the other premier category, the Pro-Stock 165cc, when he crashed again after tangling with Chiranth when the two were fighting for 1-2 positions. The Pune youngster had crashed in Race-1 on Saturday when leading.

Though both Sarthak and Chiranth recovered to rejoin the race, veteran TVS Racing team-mates Jagan Kumar, KY Ahamed and Deepak Ravikumar made the best of the free space in front to finish in that order. For Jagan, a multiple National champion, it was his first win of the season after a barren 2023.

Chennai schoolgirl, 15-year-old Rakshitha Dave completed a fine double in the Girls (Stock 165cc) category. Having won Race-1 on Saturday, she extended her domination with a sweeping win in Race-2 today, virtually unchallenged.

Similarly, another Chennai teenager Abdul Basim (Rockers Racing) achieved a clean sweep in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category, winning Race-2 today with as much ease as in the previous outing on Saturday.

Later, another Chennai rider, Kaushik Subbaiah Ganesan also notched a double in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) class with another fine ride starting from pole position.

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup: Shyam Sundar (Chennai) came up with a fine ride to win the NSF 250R race after starting from P4 on the grid. He cut through the front-runners to top the six-lapper with Mohsin Paramban (Mallappuram) yet again finishing second, but ahead of yesterday’s Race-1 winner, Rakshith Dave (Chennai).

TVS One-Make Championship: Senthilkumar C (Coimbatore) enjoyed a fruitful weekend as he won both the races in the Apache RR 310 category. Having won Saturday’s Race-1, Senthilkumar displayed relentless pace in topping today’s Race-2 ahead of two Chennai riders, Manoj Yesuadian and Jayanth P.

Bengaluru’s Harshith V Bogar continued to dominate the Rookie category as he finished the weekend with a double by winning Race-2 today on the back of his triumph in the previous outing on Saturday. CS Kedarnath (Tirupati) scrambled to second place while Saranjith KM (Thrissur) finished third.

Earlier, Pune’s Sarthak topped the TVS Electric RTE race quite comfortably with his arch-rival Chiranth Vishwanath finishing second and Chennai’s Alwyn Sundar third.

The results (Provisional – all 6 laps unless mentioned):

National Championship – Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open (Race-2): 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune,TVS Racing) (11mins, 16.788secs); 2. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru, TVS Racing) (11:17.567); 3. Alwyn Sundar A (Chennai, Gusto Racing) (11:27.870).

Pro-Stock 165cc Open (Race-2):1. Jagan Kumar (Chennai, TVS Racing) (12:10.176); 2. Ahamad KY (Chennai, TVS Racing) (12:18.302); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, TVS Racing) (12:18.611).

Novice (Stock 165cc) Race-2: 1. Abdul Basim RS (Chennai, Rockers Racing) (13:02.075); 2. Kamal Navas (Chennai, One Racing) (13:08.162); 3. Abhinav G (Coimbatore, Chandra LGE Racing team) (13:08.772).

Girls (Stock 165cc) Race-2 (5 laps): 1. Rakshitha S Dave (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power 1 Ultimate) (10:58.378); 2. Ryhana Bee (Chennai, Motul Sparks Racing) (11:01.284); 3. Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai, One Racing) (11:02.400).

Novice (Stock 301-400cc) Race-2: 1. Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power 1 Ultimate) (12:21.760); 2. Aldrin Babu (Chalakudy, RACR Castrol Power 1 Ultimate) (12:28.689); 3. Varun Patil (Bengaluru, Pvt.) (12:29.355).

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup: NSF 250 R (Race-2) (3 laps): 1. Shyam Sundar (Chennai) (05:46.716); 2. Mohsin Paramban (Mallapuram) (05:47.106); 3. Rakshit S Dave (Chennai) (05: 47.806).

TVS One-Make Championship – Open (Apache RR 310): 1. Senthilkumar C (Coimbatore) (11:52.043); 2. Manoj Yesuadian (Chennai) (11:55.840); 3.Jayanth P (Chennai) (11:58.264).

Rookie (Apache RTR 200) Race 2: 1. Harshit V Bogar (Bengaluru) (13:26.291); 2. CS Kedarnadh (Tirupati) (13:26.499); 3. Saranjith KM (Thrissur) (13:41.518).

TVS Electric RTE (4 laps): 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune) (07:26.459); 2. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru) (07:28377); 3. Alwyn Sundar A (Chennai) (07:34.190).

Media (Apache RTR 200) (5 laps): 1. Karan Mathur (Gurugram, Auto X) (11:31.475); 2. Praveen Kumar (Chennai, Rev Nitro) (11:31.869); 3. Akash Bhadra (Mumbai, Topgear) (11:34.008).