Rajini, Balappa clinch double; Ahamed wins thrilling race

CHENNAI: Rajini Krishnan and Sarvesh Balappa notched up their fourth successive victories while KY Ahamed won an absolute thriller that lit up the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2022, which concluded on Sunday at the Madras International Circuit here.

Starting P9 for the eight-lap Pro-Stock 165cc Open race, Petronas TVS Racing’s Ahamed, who endured two crashes on Saturday, secured a dramatic victory by finishing just ahead of the second-placed Mathana Kumar of Pacer Yamaha and the third-placed Rajiv Sethu from Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing. The competition was pretty close so much so that only one-tenth of a second separated the triumvirate at the finish.

The trio had exchanged leads after two other contenders – Petronas TVS Racing’s Deepak Ravikumar and Prabhu Arunagiri of Pacer Yamaha – retired in the second half of the race. Meanwhile, in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open race, Rajini from RACR Castrol Power1 was simply unstoppable while posting yet another fluent win.

Rajini managed a victory margin of over 10 seconds in the eight-lap race while the Petronas TVS Racing duo of Ahamed and Deepak came second and third respectively. In the Novice (Stock 165cc) category, Axor Sparks Racing’s Balappa continued his dream run as he clinched another double, in the weekend.

Md Samrul Zubair of Raceists Motorcycle Racing Club, who started from P33, worked his way up to finish second, with his teammate P Vignesh Goud completing the podium. In the Girls (Stock 165cc) race, Pacer Yamaha’s Ryhana Bee, who had a disappointing first round in Coimbatore last month, came up trumps to put her campaign back on track.

Ryhana took the top honours ahead of Aditi Krishnan from Winverve Apex Racing Academy, who moved up a spot after the second-placed Lani Zena Fernandez from Speed Up Racing was docked a 15-second penalty which dropped her to fourth. Axor Sparks Racing’s Jagruti Penkar finished third ultimately.

RESULTS (PROVISIONAL):Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open (Race 2): 1. Rajini Krishnan (15 minutes, 15.889 seconds); 2. KY Ahamed (15:26.410); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (15:26.729). Pro-Stock 165cc Open (Race 2): 1. KY Ahamed (15:55.678); 2. Mathana Kumar (15:55.722); 3. Rajiv Sethu (15:55.726). Novice (Stock 165cc) (Race 2): 1. Sarvesh Balappa (13:06.383); 2. Md Samrul Zubair (13:08.978); 3. P Vignesh Goud (13:10.293). Girls (Stock 165cc): 1. Ryhana Bee (11:01.483); 2. Aditi Krishnan (11:51.191); 3. Jagruti Penkar (11:18.793)