- Chennai, August 22: Chennai veterans Rajini Krishnan and Jagan Kumar stamped their class with a double each in the two premium categories as did young Alwin Sundar in the Novice class while Ryhana Bee staged a winning comeback in the Girls section as the first round of the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT, here on Sunday.
Rajini, 41, who made his National Championship debut back in 2003 and also forayed abroad for stints in Superbike racing, rolled back the years with two stunning performances while winning both the races in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category for his team RACR Castrol Power Racing astride a Yamaha R3.
In both races, Rajini was in a league of his own. This morning, in Race-1, despite a poor start when he dropped from P2 to P7 in the first lap, he carved through the field in quick time and eventually won comfortably ahead of Hyderabad’s Rahil Shetty (Gusto Racing) and Bengaluru-based Anish Damodara Shetty (Race Concepts). In the next outing, Rajini was even more dominating while winning easily from last year’s champion KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) and Anish Shetty.
Similarly, Jagan, 31, winner of cumulative nine National titles, was outstanding in repeating his Saturday’s victory in the Pro-Stock 165cc class by taking the top honours in Race-2 today, though he had to work hard for it. Fellow-international, Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) chased Jagan all through the eight laps in a futile bid to overtake and the two crossed the line in that order, followed by TVS Racing’s Deepak Ravikumar.
In between, Chennai collegian Alwin Sundar (AS Motorsports) also completed a double in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category with yet another dominating ride in a race that was marred by multiple crashes. Finishing behind the 18-year old were Anfal A (Rockstar Racing) from Thrissur and Jinendra Kiran Sangave, a private entrant from Kolhapur, the youngest competitor at just 12 years.
Earlier, another Chennai rider, Ryhana Bee (RACR Castrol Power Racing), returning to racing after a year’s gap following injury, topped the Girls race (Stock 165cc). The victory in the five-lapper was hers for the taking after defending champion Ann Jennifer (Sparks Racing) and Lani Zena Fernandez (Speed Up Racing) got tangled and crashed in the third lap. Thereafter, it was a fairly easy run for Ryhana who won from Baddam Deepika Reddy (Gusto Racing, Hyderabad) and Jagruthi Kiran (Sparks Racing, Mumbai).
Kavin Quintal (NSF 250R), Rakshith S Dave (CBR 150) and Kevin Kannan (Hornet 2.0), all from Chennai, finished with a double apiece in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup One-Make Championship while Kolhapur’s Jinendra Kiran Sangave, also won both the races in the Rookie category of the TVS One-Make Championship.