Vijaykumar enthralls Chennai, bags best rider award

Chennai, 1 August 2004: The 3rd round of the MRF National Motocross, a round of the FMSCI National Motocross Championship 2004 was a grand success. Huge crowds lined up the Kandaswami College Grounds in Annanagar Chennai to see the cream of the Indian Motocross talent vie with each other. And they were not disappointed as the teams of TVS and Yamaha gave a glorious display of skillful riding.

The event began with the most awaited race of the all. The Indian Experts Moto 1 Foreign Class upto 250 cc. Vijay Kumar of Team TVS Racing was the cynosure of all eyes and didn’t disappoint, as he emerged first at the first turn. With Syed Eathasam and Karan Kadam of Yamaha close on his heels, Vijay Kumar led the pack into the first 4 laps. The 5th lap proved to be a very interesting one as the 3 leaders jostled with one another for the lead. With the crowd cheering on, Karan Kadam of Yamaha was hot on the heels of Vijay Kumar. The gap between them had closed noticeably and as the crowd watched in tense anticipation, Karan was ‘black flagged’ and had to retire on safety grounds as first his seat fell off and then his number plate. Vijay Kumar went on to increase his lead and win with a comfortable margin, as Yogesh Barguje of Yamaha was unable to close the gap. Limping due to an injury suffered earlier, Vijay Kumar won the hearts of all as he showed the Chennai crowd his class act.

With all interest centering on this one race, it was no surprise as the crowd swelled as the second moto began. Vijay Kumar, battling pain, roared into the lead. With daredevil riding he slowly increased his lead as the crowd behind battled for the second and third places. Karan Kadam of Yamaha started closing the gap and almost took the lead at one stage. With the crowd urging on Vijay Kumar, he battled on till the 3rd lap, where he lost the lead to Syed Eathasham and Karan Kadam of Yamaha. As Syed took the lead a new battle began for second place. Into the 6th lap, Karan suffered an unfortunate fall enabling Vijay Kumar to whiz past. Syed won the second moto with Vijay Kumar coming in second.

With his splendid showing Vijay Kumar of Team TVS was adjudged the best rider of the day. With his daredevil riding Vijay showed Chennai crowds why he is held in such high esteem. He was the star of the day leaving no one in doubt about his immense talent.

The next race was the Novice Class, and Deepak John on a TVS Shogun shot into the lead into the first bend. Riding steadily he maintained his lead till the fifth lap of the race. Going into the turn into the 5th lap, he misjudged a turn and fell giving Wasim Mohd riding a Yamaha RX 135 to slip past him and move into the lead. And it stayed that way till the end with Mohd Wasim emerging victorious.

With crowd swelling in numbers, interest centred around the next race which was the Class 2, Indian Experts above 80 cc upto 150 cc. All eyes were again drawn to Vijay Kumar of Team TVS. T. K. Viswanath had other plans and he shot into the lead ahead of more fancy names into the first corner. However in the melee immediately post the first corner, C. Santhosh of Team TVS moved into the lead. With the crowd yelling at the top of their voices, Syed Eathasham of Yamaha bore down on Santosh and the pressure was too much for Santosh who surrendered his lead. Syed rapidly built up his lead and was being threatened by both Santosh and Vijay Kumar of Team TVS till a midfield collision between the two TVS riders allowed Yogesh Barguje to move into second place. There was no catching Yogesh however and he won with time to spare.

The next race was for Class 8 – Indian Experts above 110 c upto 250 cc. This was a fairly steady race and Bharat Kadam riding a Yamaha 250 F drove a good, steady race to win comfortably over Abhijit Jadhav.

The race for Class 5, Indian Experts above 80 cc upto 110 cc was next. C. D. Jinan of Team TVS shot into the lead. However a major spill into the 2nd lap involving some of the leaders, led to Jinan surrendering his lead to V. Lokesh. However, Shivkumar began piling on the pressure and son moved into the lead and eventually winning with some smart and effective riding.

Rustom Patel of Team TVS Racing dominated the Class 3 for Indian Experts winning with ease. B. V. Suresh and Sayed Zubair of Team TVS came second and third respectively.

ShivaKumar came back to win the Class 6, Indian Experts, race for bikes above 110cc upto 180 cc. Driving with aplomb, he ensured that he didn’t lose his lead to either Jinan or Shridhar and emerged victorious. This was his second victory for the afternoon.

Chennaites came to their feet to cheer the local class. Anandkumar drove a good race to win.