It was a day of the “double” at the Madras International Circuit as the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2024 concluded with the new generation of riders emerging to displace the old guard.
Teenager Sarthak Chavan (Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open), schoolgirl Rakshitha Dave (Girls, Stock 165cc), Abdul Basim (Novice, Stock 165cc), and Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Novice, Stock 301-400cc) won both races this weekend in their respective National Championship categories. Barring Pune’s Sarthak, the other three riders are from Chennai.
The 15-year-old Dave twins, Rakshith and Rakshitha took the honours in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (NSF 250R) and the National Championship Girls (Stock 165cc) races. It was a maiden win for both of them, in their respective categories.
Two other siblings, 28-year-old KY Ahamed (Pro-Stock 165cc Open) and his 17-year-old brother Abdul Basim (Novice 165cc), also won a race apiece to set off celebrations in both families.
Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open class
Sarthak Chavan, established himself as the top gun in the class, winning both races over the weekend in an emphatic manner
Sarthak Chavan, the 17-year-old from Pune, led a 1-2 finish for TVS Racing along with Bengaluru’s Chiranth Vishwanath, also 17. The race was cut to four laps from scheduled six after a red flag stoppage following a Turn-3 crash which took time for recovery, while Sarthak, starting from pole, virtually destroyed the field on restart. Chiranth came in second, ahead of Hyderabad’s Sairahil Pillarisetty from Gusto Racing.
Race2, Following home Sarthak Chavan in P2 in both races was another 17-year-old, Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru, who just couldn’t match Sarthak’s pace. The duo dominated both races leaving the rest to scrap for the other podium spot, Alwyn Sundar A from Gusto Racing finished third..
Pro-Stock 165cc
Race1, Sarthak, however, had a disastrous outing as he crashed when in the lead. On his exit, Sathak’s two TVS Racing team-mates, KY Ahamed and multiple National champion Jagan Kumar, were involved in a tight finish. Ahamed pipped his mentor Jagan in a photo-finish with another TVS Racing ace, Deepak Ravikumar, who had started the race from the pit lane, completing the podium. Chiranth, who was running second, also crashed, but resumed to finish fourth.
Sarthak, however, missed a possible win, despite starting P7 on the grid, in the Race2, when he crashed again after tangling with Chiranth when the two were fighting for 1-2 positions. The Pune youngster had crashed in Race-1 on Saturday when leading.
Though both Sarthak and Chiranth recovered to rejoin the race, veteran TVS Racing team-mates Jagan Kumar, KY Ahamed and Deepak Ravikumar made the best of the free space in front to finish in that order. For Jagan, a multiple National champion, it was his first win of the season after a barren 2023.
Novice (Stock 165cc) category
In Race1, pole-sitter Abdul Basim, held off a strong challenge from Mysuru’s Tasmai Cariappa from Motul Sparks Racing who led briefly in the penultimate lap but conceded the advantage. Basim went on to win with Tasmai and Coimbatore’s Abhinav G from Chandra LGE Racing finishing second and third, respectively.
Similarly in race2, another Chennai teenager Abdul Basim from Rockers Racing achieved a clean sweep by winning both the races, Kamal Navas fomr One Racing followed him in second as Abhinav G from Coimbatore finished third.
Girls (Stock 165cc) category
Chennai schoolgirl, 15-year-old Rakshitha Dave completed a fine double in the Girls (Stock 165cc) category. Having won Race-1 on Saturday, she extended her domination with a sweeping win in Race-2, virtually unchallenged.
Localite Rakshitha Dave from RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate, starting from P2 in race1, moved in front by Turn-2, deftly avoiding any jostling that was happening behind her, and enjoyed a trouble-free run for a commanding win. Another Chennai rider, Jagathishee Kumaresan from One Racing and Ryhana Bee from Motul Sparks Racing settled for second and third spots, respectively, while pole-sitter Ann Jennifer from Alpha Racing came in a disappointing fourth.
“I am very happy to score my first-ever win in the National championship. I had a good start today and a trouble-free run after going into the lead early in the first lap. The bike too performed very well,” said a delighted Rakshitha.
It was a double for Rakshitha Dave as Ryhana Bee finished in second place and Jagathishree Kumaresan finished third.
Stock 301-400cc (Novice) class
Also finishing on top step of the podium was Chennai’s Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan from RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate who won as he pleased that gained National championship status from this season. Lokesh V from Bengaluru finished second and Varun Nanjundegowda from Mysuru representing Gusto Racing India finished third.
Later, the Chennai rider, Kaushik Subbaiah Ganesan notched his second win of the round as he won the race2 while his teammate Aldrin Babu from Chalakudy finished second and Privateer from Bengaluru Varun Patil finished third.
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup:
Rakshith Dave reigned supreme in the NSF 250R race after initial battle with the more experienced Mohsin Paramban from Mallapuram with Bengaluru’s AS James finishing third. It was Rakshith’s first-ever win in this class. Incidentally, Rakshith’s twin sister, Rakshitha made her debut in this class and finished 13th.
Shyam Sundar from Chennai came up with a fine ride to win the race2 after starting from P4 on the grid. He cut through the front-runners to top the six-lapper with Mohsin Paramban yet again finishing second, but ahead of Race-1 winner, Rakshith Dave
TVS One-Make Championship:
In race1, Senthilkumar C took the honours in the truncated race that was reduced to three laps from six due to a red flag stoppage following an on-track incident. Jayanth Pratipathi (Chennai) came in second, ahead of Nagercoil’s Ajai Xavier M.
Senthilkumar C from Coimbatore enjoyed a fruitful weekend as he won both the races. Having won Saturday’s Race-1, Senthilkumar displayed relentless pace in topping Race-2 ahead of two Chennai riders, Manoj Yesuadian and Jayanth P.
Rookie (Apache RTR 200)
Harshith V Bogar from Bengaluru notched a dominating win in race1, with second-placed Saranjith KM from Thrissur finishing some 10 seconds behind. Vijayawada’s Akarsh Jangam was a distant third.
Harshith V Bogar continued to dominate the class as he finished the weekend with a double by winning Race-2 on the back of his triumph in the previous outing on the previous day. CS Kedarnath from Tirupati scrambled to second place while Saranjith KM from Thrissur finished third.
Girls (RTR 200)
Mumbai’s Sarah Khan won the race untroubled from Pune’s Saimah Ajaz Baig and Aisvarya V from Coimbatore, who finished in second and third position.
TVS Electric RTE
Pune’s Sarthak topped the race quite comfortably with his arch-rival Chiranth Vishwanath finishing second and Chennai’s Alwyn Sundar third.
Media (Apache RTR 200)
The five lap race went Karan Mathur from Gurugram, Auto X way, finished in the same minute in second position was Praveen Kumar from Chennai, Rev Nitro, with over two seconds difference Akash Bhadra from Mumbai, Topgear finished third.
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