Rajini Krishnan, Jagan steal the show in national racing meet

CHENNAI: Veteran riders Rajini Krishnan (RACR Castrol Power1) and Jagan Kumar (Petronas TVS Racing) posted superb victories in the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit at Sriperumbudur near here on Sunday.

Also notching impressive wins were Hyderabad’s Mohd Samrul Zubair (Race’ists Motorcycle Club) in the Novice (Stock 165) category after starting 21st on the grid and local rider Ann Jennifer (Alpha Racing), the former champion, in the Girls (Stock 165cc) class.

Rajini, chasing his 11th National title, shrugged off a third place finish on Saturday to win handily today in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open category to stretch his championship lead to 51 points.

Rajini’s two decades of racing experience was very much in evidence as he paced himself brilliantly and bided his time starting from P3 before making his move while keeping in mind the track condition which initially was damp following spots of light drizzle before the start. He also dealt with close attention from the Petronas TVS Racing pair of Deepak Ravikumar and Race-1 winner KY Ahamed with panache to notch his fifth win in sixth starts and leads Ravikumar by 51 points in the championship standings.

In contrast, last year’s champion Jagan Kumar, who missed the previous round owing to a wrist injury he suffered in the Rolon Round at Coimbatore in June, and still nursing a painful right wrist, recorded his first win of the season in the other premier category, the Pro-Stock 165cc Open, to end a drought that stretched to 10 months and 12 races.

Jagan made the best of the situation that saw front-runner Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) crashing early in the eight-lap race. Championship leader Mathana Kumar (Pacer Yamaha) came in fifth and enjoys a 28-point cushion over Sethu.

Earlier, Md Samrul Zubair came up with a brilliant performance to win the Novice (Stock 165cc) category race which he started from P21.

The race also ended a five-win streak of Hubballi’s Sarvesh Balappa (Axor Sparks Racing) who finished ninth.

Meanwhile, Ann Jennifer scored her second win of the season after the two front-runners, Ryhana Bee (Pacer Yamaha) and Lani Zena Fernandez (RACR Castrol Power1) crashed in consecutive laps at the same spot exiting the last corner. For much of the five-lap race, the battle raged in front between Ryhana and Lani, with Ann lying in third.

However, with the two in front crashing but subsequently recovering to finish the race, it was a comfortable win for Ann who thus moved to the top of the championship standings in this category with 60 points.

Others who maintained their unbeaten run were: Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – Sarthak Shrikant Chavan from Pune (NSF 250, 6 wins); Raheesh Mudassar Khatri from Mumbai (CBR 150, 6 wins). Petronas TVS One-Make Championship – Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru (Rookie, 6 wins); Aditi Krishnan from Bengaluru (Girls, RTR200, 3 wins).