Third win for Rajini Krishnan, Jagan Kumar

Chennai, 11 Sept 2021: Veterans Rajini Krishnan (RACR) and Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) posted brilliant but contrasting victories in their respective categories to light up the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT, here on Saturday.

Rajini, 41, stamped his authority and class while winning the race in the premier Prostock 301-400cc category after starting from P6 while Jagan Kumar, 31, exchanged leads with arch-rival and pole-sitter Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) before clinching the cliff-hanger with a last-lap overtake as the two crossed the finish line with little separating them. Both Rajini and Jagan thus notched their third consecutive wins in the championship having scored a double apiece in Round-1 last month.

Also scoring maximum points was 20-year old from Thrissur, Anfal Akdhar (Rockstar Racing) in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category.

Rajini, 41, rode his Yamaha R3 with craft and guile that reflected his vast experience as he bided his time after starting from P6 before making a decisive move, to move to the front of the pack and stayed there with ease. The local star, who had won both the races in Round-1 last month, was confident personified to finish ahead of Rockers Racing’s Soorya PM from Chennai, who could not defend his pole position, and Hyderabad’s Rahil Shetty (Gusto Racing).

“At the start, I avoided getting caught up in the bunch, but gradually, I made my through the field,” said Rajini after the six-lapper.

Later, Jagan and Sethu battled hard but fair. Starting from pole position, Sethu yielded ground to Jagan but midway through the six-lapper, the Honda ace regained the lead to set up a last-lap humdinger. The pair took the last corner of the last lap in tandem and raced side-by-side to the finish line where Jagan just about got his nose in front for a thrilling win as Sethu, for the third race in a row finished second. Behind the pair, KY Ahamed finished third after close fight with his TVS Racing team-mate Deepak Ravikumar who ran wide entering the home straight on the last lap.  

Earlier, starting the six-lap race from P3 on the 38-bike grid, Anfal Akdhar had to fight hard for his victory as he received close attention from pole-sitter Allwin Sundar (AS Motorsports) and Alwin Xavier (Sparks Racing), also from Thrissur. Sundar, winner of both races in Round-1 last month, eventually fell out of contention due to some issues with his bike, leaving Akdhar and Xavier to fight for the top honours. Akdhar managed to keep his wheel in front as he crossed the finish line just ahead of Xavier.

The One-Make Championships organized by MMSC also witnessed dominating rides. In the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup, Kavin Quintal (NSF 250R) and Kevin Kannan (Honda Hornet 2.0) posted their third victory apiece.

Jinendra Kiran Sangave, the 12-year old from Kolhapur (TVS Rookie) won the Rookie RTR 200 Race 1 clocking 12:48.856 for a comfortable victory as he was streets ahead of the fied. Chiranth V of Bengaluru time 13:04.132 to put compatriot Shreyas Copparam Hareesh at bay and managed a narrow second with Shreyas, the baby of the grid, clocking 13:04.992 for the third.

In the Girls’ RTR Race 1 over five laps, it was a battle between Youth and and Experience and the Chennai school girl Rakshitha Dave maintained her unbeaten run clocking 11:15.447 for another win even as Renuka Gajendran (Bengaluru), an Aviation specialist currently with Infosys took second on the podium with Zigna Pamnani (Kalyan) in third place.

In the CBR150 class Race 1, Prakash Kamath from Bokaro Steel city clocked 3:14.859 to beat Shubankar Joshi of Pune (13:23.925) and Johann local rider Reeves Emmanuel (13:27.157) came third.

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

National Championship:

Prostock 301-400cc (Race-1): 1. Rajini Krishnan (RACR, Chennai) (11mins, 21.868secs); 2. Soorya PM (Rockers Racing, Chennai) (11:23.279); 3. Rahil Shetty (Gusto Racing, Hyderabad) (11:23.414).

Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1): 1. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing, Chennai) (11:46.731); 2. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) (11:46.778); 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (11:47.691).

Novice (Stock 165cc) Race-1: 1. Anfal Akdhar (Rockstar Racing, Thrissur) (13:05.852); 2. Allwin Xavier (Sparks Racing, Thrissur) (13:05.980); 3. Sarvesh Balappa (Sparks Racing, Hubballi) (13:17.967).

One-Make Championship organized by Madras Motor Sports Club:

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-1): 1. Kavin Quintal (Chennai) (11:08.113); 2. Mohsin Peramban (Valanchery) (11:22.860); 3. Sarthak Chavan (Pune) (11:22.959 – incl 10-sec penalty for jump start).

CBR 150 (Race-1): 1. Prakash Kamath (Bokaro Steel city) (13:14.859); 2. Shubankar Joshi (Pune) (13:23.925); 3. Johann Reeves Emmanuel (Chennai) (13:27.157).

Hornet 2.0 (Race-1): 1. Kevin Kannan (Chennai) (13:26.735); 2. Alwin Sundar (Chennai) (13:35.033); 3. Rajkumar C (Coimbatore) (13:35.134).

TVS Apache Open (RR310, Race-1): 1. Navaneeth Kumar (Puducherry) (11:49.658); 2. Amarnath Menon (Calicut) (11:50.606); 3. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (11:50.729).

Rookie (RTR 200, Race-1): 1. Jinendra Kiran Sangave (Kolhapur) (12:48.856); 2. Chiranth V (Bengaluru) (13:04.132); 3. Shreyas Copparam Hareesh (Bengaluru) (13:04.992).

Girls (RTR 200, Race-1, 5 laps): 1. Rakshitha Dave (Chennai) (11:15.447); 2. Renuka Gajendran (Bengaluru) (11:30.442); 3. Zigna Pamnani (Kalyan) (11:39.959).

About Madras Motor Sports Club

Since its humble beginnings in 1953, the Madras Motor Sports Club has grown in stature as the hub of motorsport activity in India. Having moved its racing activities from Sholavaram to its present location, the MMRT circuit in Sriperumbudur in 1979, MMSC has kept pace with changing times by upgrading facilities. At a cost of about Rs 20 Crore, the MMSC built a pit complex comprising 20 garages, VIP hospitality suites and a viewing gallery, on the eastern side, apart from a second Paddock on the western side with its own short circuit. Parallelly, MMSC imported timing equipment specifically for Drag racing. The Control Room too was upgraded with state-of-the-art hardware while the track itself was improved to meet the exacting FIA standards for Grade-2 certification. MMSC also constructed a 500-capacity grand stand with provision for garages / storage below. In another upgrade, the MMSC purchased Digi flags from TAG Heuer Chronolec that will be positioned strategically around the track. The facilities are also extensively used by various vehicle manufacturers for testing their products, displays and corporate days.