Impressive show put up by Next-gen millennial riders Sarthak and Raheesh on day 2 of IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup 2022 Round 1

Coimbatore, June 12, 2022: As the curtains went down today for the Rollon round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC) 2022 at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore, the next-gen millennial riders steal the show with their fireball performances.

Topping the leadership board is Pune’s Sarthak Chavan and the youngest Raheesh Khatri of Mumbai who stamped their dominance with double wins in round 1 of the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup NSF250R Open class and CBR150R Novice class respectively.

Last year, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India introduced Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race to provide racing experience to its customers. Continuing the same this year again, the round 1 of Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race saw Ullas Santrupt taking back home two podium wins.

Expressing his feelings, Prabhu Nagaraj - Operating Officer, Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India. Pvt. Ltd. said, “We are extremely happy to see our young guns quickly adjusting and adapting to the Kari Motor Speedway, riding here for the very first time here. Racing brilliantly, Sarthak Chavan and Raheesh Khatri yet again proved their capabilities as they rose to victory on Day 2 as well. This gave us another glimpse of high potential young talent aiming to represent India in the International races in future. While it was a difficult day for our riders in PS165cc championship, but we are confident that they will bounce back with better results in next round. With the end of this round today, the challenge still continues to take on the championship titles.”

IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R & CBR150R categories
The race 2 of IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup NSF250R saw a repeat of show by yesterday’s podium finishers Sarthak Chavan, Shyam Sundar & AS James. International rider Sarthak Chavan once again led the race from start to finish. The 16-year-old lad took the chequered flag for second time this weekend with a mammoth lead of 10 seconds. Following him to the finish line was Chennai’s Shyam Sundar at 12:34.188. Outpacing others, Bengaluru’s AS James fought his hardest and secured third place.
The 15 laps race 2 of IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R class saw 8 next-gen riders lined-up in order of yesterday’s race results. Starting from the pole position, 14-year-old Raheesh Khatri consistently maintained his pace till the end. The Mumbai youngster comfortably won the race with a huge difference of 25 seconds over Kolhapur’s Siddesh Sawant who finished second. Starting the race from P8, Bengaluru’s Harshith Bogar moved up to podium contention in lap 2. Soon after he was held in a two-way fight with Hyderabad’s Rajendera Beedani. In last lap, Harshit leaped ahead to finish the race at 3rd, leaving behind Rajendera on fourth. 

Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race
Race 2 of the Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make race witnessed yet another exciting and dramatic finish to the chequered line. Maintaining a steady pace throughout the race, yesterday’s race leader Ullas Santrupt solidified his first place on podium today. While yesterday’s podium contender G Balaji slipped down to the 8th place, it was Allwin Xavier who with his competitive riding continued to give Ullas a tough time on the track. Despite facing a few difficulties on the track today, Allwin recorded best lap of 1:29.283 and finished second. Fighting out to get on the podium, Romario closed the race with third place finish.

MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship – ProStock 165cc 
The IDEMITSU Honda SK 69 Racing team’s experienced rider Rajiv Sethu was leading Honda’s charge at 3rd place in earlier laps until another rider crashed and took him out of the contention as well. Rajiv’s teammate Senthil Kumar picked up his pace and contested with all his power to finish the race at 6th, securing 8 points for the team.