Third win for Rajini, Jagan in National Motorcycle Championship

Chennai, Sep 11 (IANS) 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 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, according to a release issued by the organisers.

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).

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 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).