National Motorcycle Racing: Double delight for K.Y. Ahamed, Prabhu Arunagiri

Chennai, Sep 11 (IANS) K.Y. Ahamed and Prabhu Arunagiri notched a double apiece while Rohan Ramesh (Axor Sparks Racing) and Lani Zena Fernandez (RACR Castrol Power1) scored contrasting victories as the fourth round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2022 concluded at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

Ahamed, winner of Race-1 on Saturday, led a 1-2 finish for Petronas TVS Racing in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open category today while Arunagiri (Pacer Yamaha) ground out a thrilling win, his second of the weekend, in the Pro-Stock 165cc Open class.

Rohan (Axor Sparks Racing) emerged unscathed from a bunch of half-a-dozen riders to take the honours in the Novice (Stock 165cc) race after Lani Zena (RACR Castrol Power1) topped the Girls' (Stock 165cc) outing earlier in the day for her maiden win of the season.

The fifth and final round of the championship will be held from September 30 to October 2 at the MIC.

In the Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open race, pole-sitter Ahamed missed a gear as the lights went out and slipped to second behind teammate Deepak Ravikumar. The two battled all the way until Ahamed passed Ravikumar on the last lap and defended his position for a brilliant victory.

Behind the lead pair, defending champion Rajini Krishnan, starting from P7, crashed in the first lap, but picked himself up to come in third while posting the fastest lap of the race in the process. The third-place finish t'ok Rajini's tally to 161 after four rounds followed by Ahamed (126 points) and Ravikumar (125).

Arunagiri too had to work hard for his second win of the weekend in the Pro-Stock 165cc Open category. The eight-lapper went down to the wire as Arunagiri fought off a strong challenge from the Petronas TVS Racing pair of Ahamed and Jagan Kumar, and Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing), besides teammate and early leader Mathana Kumar.

Arunagiri kept his wits about to pull off a merited win with Sethu and Ahamed close on his heels. Mathana, though finishing fifth, kept his lead in the points table with a tally of 126, ahead of Sethu (109) and Arunagiri (104).

The Novice race was a heart-stopper with half-a-dozen riders in the mix and fighting for podium spots. They took turns to lead, but eventually, it was Rohan who pulled ahead to win from Hubballi's Sarvesh Balappa (Axor Sparks Racing) and Vignesh Goud (Hyderabad). Though without a win this weekend, Sarvesh picked up sufficient points to take his tally to 157 for an unassailable lead in the championship standings.

Earlier, starting from pole position, Lani Zena Fernandez battled with Mumbai's Jagruti Penkar (Axor Sparks Racing) all through the five laps as the two exchanged the lead. In the last lap, Lani made a decisive move to regain the lead which she nursed to the finish for her first win of the season. Local challenger Jagathrishree (Pacer Yamaha) came in third, ahead of Ann Jennifer (Alpha Racing).

With a round to go, Ann (72) leads Jagruthi (63) on the points table while defending champion Ryhana Bee (Pacer Yamaha) had another disastrous outing as she crashed in the very first lap which weighed her down to sixth in the championship.

In the Petronas TVS One-Make Championship, Aditi Krishnan from Bengaluru notched her fourth consecutive win in the Girls (Apache RTR 200) category while Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru scored a double to remain unbeaten after eight races and four rounds in the 'ookie class.

Mumbai's Raheesh Mudassar Khatri also recorded a double for eight wins in as many outings in the Novice (CBR 150) category of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup.

Provisional results (all 6 laps unless mentioned):

National Championship - Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open (Race-2, 8 laps): 1. KY Ahamed (Chennai, Petronas TVS Racing) (15min, 12.117secs); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, Petronas TVS Racing) (15:12.208); 3. Rajini Krishnan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1) (15:22.655).

Pro-Stock 165cc Open (Race-2, 8 laps): 1. Prabhu Arunagiri (Chennai, Pacer Yamaha) (15:46.872); 2. Rajiv Sethu (Chennai, Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) (15:47.054); 3. KY Ahamed (Chennai, Petronas TVS Racing) (15:47.342).

Novice (Stock 165cc, Race-2): 1. Rohan Ramesh (Coimbatore, Axor Sparks Racing) (13:06.392); 2. Sarvesh Balappa (Hubbali, Axor Sparks Racing) (13:06.633); 3. P Vignesh Goud (Pvt, Hyderabad) (13:07.152).

Girls (Stock 165cc, 5 laps): 1. Lani Zena Fernandez (Puducherry, RACR Castrol Power1) (10:58.104); 2. Jagruti Penkar (Mumbai, Axor Sparks Racing) (10:58.298); 3. Jagathishree (Chennai, Pacer Yamaha) (11:05.958).

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup - NSF 250R (Race-2, 10 laps): 1. Kavin Quintal (Chennai) (18:25.485); 2. Mohsin P (Malappuram) (18:46.045); 3. Shyam Sundar (Chennai) (18:46.212).

Novice (CBR 150, Race-2): 1. Raheesh Mudassar Khatri (Mumbai) (12:55.276); 2. Siddesh Sawant (Kolhapur) (12:55.991); 3. Rajender Beedani (Jangaon) (13:12.555).

Hornet 2.0 (Support event, Race-2): 1. Allwin Xavier (Thrissur) (13:30.607); 2. G Balaji (Chennai) (13:31.402); 3. Romario John (Chennai) (13:31.405).

Petronas TVS One-Make Championship - Open (Apache RR 310, Race-1): 1. Rahil Pillarisetty (Hyderabad) (11:43.069); 2. P. Ananthraj (Chennai) (11:43.111); 3. Venkatesan I (Chennai) (11:44.644). Race-2: 1. Rahil Pillarisetty (Hyderabad) (11:46.580); 2. Mohan Babu P (Chennai) (11:49.351); 3. Ananthraj P (Chennai) (11:49.353).

Rookie (Apache RTR 200, Race-2): 1. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru) (12:36.605); 2. Abdul Basim RS (Chennai) (12:44.161); 3. Shreyas Hareesh (Bengaluru) (12:52.597);