Sarthak extends win-spree; Chiranth notches maiden victory

CHENNAI: Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru and his TVS Racing team-mate Pune’s Sarthak Chavan hogged the limelight with thrilling wins in the two Pro-Stock categories after surviving close battles in the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2024 – Powered by STORM at the Madras International Circuit, here on Saturday. Incidentally, both the 17-year-old mavericks recorded the grand “treble” of pole position, fastest lap and race win.

Chiranth scrapped his way to his maiden win of the season in the Pro-Stock 165cc Open category. Though starting from pole, Chiranth, nursing a painful left leg after a heavy fall in this morning’s Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open race, fell behind his seniors Jagan Kumar and KY Ahamed after surviving a contact with Sarthak who crashed. Later in the race, Chiranth went past Jagan and Ahamed for his maiden win of the season. Sarthak recovered from the fall to finish fifth.

Earlier in the day, in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open race, pole-sitter Sarthak led from the start, closely shadowed by Chiranth. The pair pulled away from the pack with Sarthak hanging on to a slender lead. On the last lap, the pair exchanged positions in the span of two corners, before Sarthak managed to get back in front. Going into the final turn, a right-hander, Chiranth made a desperate move, taking the risky outside line and crashed leaving Sarthak a clear winner. Chiranth managed to get up and finish 10th. Second behind Sarthak was Hyderabad’s Rahil Pillarisetty (KTM Gusto Racing India), ahead of team-mate Alwin Sundar.

Chennai teenager Abdul Basim (One Racing) maintained his unbeaten run in the Novice (Stock 165cc) class by notching a fifth consecutive win, while former National champion Ryhana Bee (Motul Sparks Racing) recorded her first win of the season in the Girls (Stock 165cc) category after the race was reduced to three laps from scheduled five due to an on-track incident involving pole-sitter Ann Jennifer (Alpha Racing India) in the very first lap.

Later, Bengaluru’s Savion Sabu (Mad Rabbit Racing) had his commanding ‘win’ snatched away and was demoted to third due to a 10-second penalty for a jump start in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) category. Consequently, Raj Kumar (Coimbatore, RDX Torque Racing) was elevated to first place, ahead of Shyam Sundar K (Chennai, Tachyon Motorsport).

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (NSF 250R): Mohsin Paramban, the 22-year-old from Mallapuram, consolidated his top position on the leaderboard by recording his third consecutive win in the NSF 250R class after overcoming early challenge. Finishing second and third behind him were Kolhapur’s Siddesh Sawant and Prakash Kamath from Bengaluru.

TVS One-Make Championship: Chennai’s Manoj Yesuadiyan notched his second consecutive win in the Open (RR310) class after holding off Raj Kumar C (Coimbatore) while Ajai Xavier M (Nagercoil) finished a distant third. Likewise, Bengaluru’s Harshith Bogar raced to his fifth win in as many starts in the Rookie (Apache RTR 200) class, surviving a close battle with second-placed CS Kedarnath (Tirupati).

Later, Saimah Ajaz Baig from Pune scored her second win in the Girls (Apache RTR 200) category ahead of Tiruchi’s SP Shuriya and Aisvariya V (Coimbatore).

Provisional results (all 6 laps unless mentioned):

Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open (Race-1): 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, TVS Racing) (11mins, 03.678secs); 2. Rahil Pillarisetty (Hyderabad, KTM Gusto Racing India) (11:07.773); 3. A Alwin Sundar (Chennai, KTM Gusto Racing India) (11:08.191)

Pro-Stock 165cc Open (Race-1): 1. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru, TVS Racing) (11:39.135); 2. Ahamed KY (Chennai, TVS Racing) (11:44.485); 3. Jagan Kumar (Chennai, TVS Racing) (11:44.530)

Stock 301-400cc (Novice, Race-1):1. Raj Kumar (Coimbatore, RDX Torque Racing) (12:17.698); 2. Shyam Sundar K (Chennai, Tachyon Motorsport) (12:17.903); 3. Savion Babu (Bengaluru, Mad Rabbit Racing) (12:20.773)

Girls (Stock 165cc, Race-1): 1. Ryhana Bee (Chennai, Motul Sparks Racing) (06:43.550); 2. Rakshita Dave (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) (06:43.601); 3. Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai, One Racing) (06:48.292)

Novice (Stock 165cc, Race-1): 1. Abdul Basim RS (Chennai, Rockers Racing) (12:57.514); 2. Tasmai Cariappa (Mysuru, Motul Sparks Racing) (12:58.337); 3. Lal Nunsanga (Mizoram, Motul Sparks Racing) (13:08.569)

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (NSF 250R): 1. Mohsin Paramban (Malappuram) (11:23.545); 2. Siddesh Sawant (Kolhapur) (11:24.755); 3. Prakash Kamat (Bengaluru) (11:24.950)

TVS One-Make Championship: Open (RR310, Race-1): 1. Manoj Yesuadiyan (Chennai) (11:48.404); 2. Raj Kumar C (Coimbatore) (11:48.894); 3. Ajai Xavier M (Nagercoil) (11:59.833)

Rookie (Apache RTR 200, Race-1): 1. Harshith V Bogar (Bengaluru) (13:19.200); 2. CS Kedarnath (Tirupati) (13:19.383); 3. Venugopalan Sundaram (Chennai) (13:45.946)

Girls (Apache RTR 200) 4 laps: 1. Saimah Ajaz Baig (Pune) (08:59.583); 2. Shuriya SP (Tiruchi) (09:01.493); 3. Aisvariya V (Coimbatore) (09:06.478)