Pune’s Sarthak Chavan clinches maiden National crown

CHENNAI: Pune’s Sarthak Chavan (TVS Racing), enjoying the best season of his fledgling career yet, scripted history when he became the youngest ever at 17 years of age to seal the title in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open class as the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship headed towards a grand climax at the Madras International Circuit, here on Saturday.

Sarthak, who will turn 18 at the end of October, clinched the crown by winning Race-1 which put him beyond reach of his rivals in the points tally. Riding with great maturity, Sarthak tucked himself behind race leader and team-mate Chiranth Vishwanath, the 17-year-old from Bengaluru before making a move late in the six-lapper to notch his eighth win in nine races.

Veteran Rajini Krishnan (RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) was placed third. The result put Sarthak 57 points ahead of Chiranth on the leaderboard.

“It feels great to win my maiden National title. I have had a good season this year with five podium finishes at the Asian level. At the start of the season, I was focused on my riding and wanting to do well,” said Sarthak.

Later, Chiranth Vishwanath, the 17-year-old from Bengaluru, won the other premier class race, Pro-Stock 165cc Open, which went down to the wire after a few tense moments, as TVS Racing swept the podium spots with KY Ahamed and Sarthak Chavan finishing second and third, respectively.

The six-lap race had three different leaders until Chiranth went past Sarthak and Ahamed with a daring move at the last corner as the trio finished within a second of each other.

The victory, though, kept Chiranth anchored in fourth spot on the leaderboard while Ahamed and his mentor and multiple National champion Jagan Kumar, who finished fourth, and Sarthak are separated by only three points ahead of Sunday’s concluding race.

Meanwhile, the Girls (Stock 165cc) race threw up an unexpected result as the two championship contenders Ryhana Bee (One Racing) and Rakshitha Dave (RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) made contact and crashed in the third lap. Their retirement saw Jagathishree Kumaresan (One Racing) notch an easy win ahead of team-mate SP Shuria and Saimah Ajaz Baig (Motul Sparks Racing).

With Saturday’s win, Jagathishree moved to the top of the leaderboard with a 22-point advantage over Ryhana, going into Sunday’s concluding race.

Chennai’s Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) picked up crucial points after finishing third in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) race behind Raj Kumar C (RDX Torque Racing) and Savion Sabu (Mad Rabbit Racing) to keep his top spot on the points table. He leads Raj Kumar by 17 points ahead of Sunday’s final race.

Abdul Basim (Rockers Racing) maintained his form and scored his eighth win in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category, having already sealed the championship in the previous round. He held off his close rival, Tasmai Cariappa (Motul Sparks Racing).