Rajini Krishnan bounces back, Hyderabad’s Rahil comes second

Chennai: Ace rider Rajini Krishnan (RACR Castrol Power Racing) came into his own to script a fine win while TVS Racing’s KY Ahamed completed a double as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2021 concluded at the MMRT, here on Sunday.

Rajini Krishnan, 41, diced with yesterday’s Race-1 winner Hyderabad’s Rahil Shetty (Gusto Racing) and Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) before winning the thrilling battle in the premier Prostock 301-400cc category with less than a second covering the trio. The win, his fourth of the season from six starts, helped Rajini (118 points) to maintain his top position in the championship table with Rahil 17 points adrift.

Later, local challenger Ahamed kept his nerves to record his second win of the weekend with team-mate and defending champion Jagan Kumar delivering a 1-2 finish for TVS Racing while Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) was third. The result could have been different as early leader, Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) crashed heavily exiting the last corner in the fifth lap. The result notwithstanding, Jagan continues to head the points table with 126 points, followed by Ravikumar (85), Sethu (83) and Ahamed (77).

One of the top rides of the day, however, was from Chennai collegian Alwin Sundar (AS Motorsports), who started P34 and won the Novice (Stock 165cc) race, his third of the season, as did Ryhana Bee (RACR Castrol Power Racing) in the Girls (Stock 165cc) category. Sundar is currently placed second in the championship in the Novice class with 103 points to leader Anfal Akdhar’s 113. Ryhana heads the Girls table with 75 points, well clear of Mumbai’s Jagruti Penkar of Sparks Racing (45).

Riding a Yamaha R3, Rajini Krishnan brought into play his vast experience to win a tight battle with Rahil Shetty, astride a KTM 390, as the two swapped leads over eight laps with third-placed Ravikumar in the mix.

The contest, at times, turned physical with Rajini and Rahil coming into contact, but both escaped any mishap. “It was a tough race. Rahil is extremely fast, like he was yesterday. I also had an eye on the championship points and didn’t want to make any mistakes like in the previous round when I crashed,” said Rajini.

The Prostock 165cc Open race was full of suspense as to the eventual outcome, though TVS Racing appeared heading towards another podium sweep like on Saturday. The quartet of Ravikumar, Ahamed, Jagan Kumar and Rajiv Sethu was bunched tight at the front with the TVS trio leading by turns.

However, Ravikumar tragically crashed when the front tyre washed away and he was fortunate to fall outside the track on the grass allowing Ahamed, Jagan and Sethu, besides rest of the field to zip through.

The results (Provisional):

National Championship – Prostock 301-400cc Open (Race-2, 8 laps): 1. Rajini Krishnan (RACR Castrol Power, Chennnai,) (15mins, 04.136secs); 2. Rahil Shetty (Gusto Racing, Hyderabad) (15:04.561); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing, Chennai) (15:04.719).

Prostock 165cc Open (Race-2, 8 laps): 1. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (15:40.885); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (15:41.020); 3. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) (15:41.146).

Novice (Stock 165cc) Race-2 (6 laps): 1. Alwin Sundar (AS Motorsports, Chennai) (13:05.747); 2. Sarvesh Balappa (Sparks Racing, Hubballi) (13:06.309); 3. Allwin Xavier (Sparks Racing, Thrissur) (13:06.342).

Girls (Stock 165cc, 5 laps): 1. Ryhana Bee (RACR Castrol Power Racing, Chennai) (10:53.801); 2. Ann Jennifer (Sparks Racing, Chennai) (11:07.230); 3. Jagruti Penkar (Sparks Racing, Mumbai) (11:09.601).

One-Make Championship organised by MMSC:

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-2, 8 laps): 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune) (14:46.889); 2. Kavin Quintal (Chennai) (14:53.056); 3. Mohsin Paramban (Malappuram) (15:02.291).

Honda Novice (CBR 150) Race-2 (6 laps): 1. Prakash Kamat (Bokar Steel City) (13:10.827); 2. Ikshan Shanbhag (Satara) (13:13.736); 3. Theopaul Leander (Chennai) (13:26.125).

Honda Hornet 2.0 (Race-2, 6 laps): 1. Ullas Santrupt Nanda (Chennai) (13:20.440); 2. Alwin Sundar (Chennai) (13:20.867); 3. Prabhu V (Chennai) (13:21.107).

TVS Open (Apache RR 310) Race-1 (6 laps): 1. Jagadeesh N (Bengaluru) (11:47.095); 2. Aditya Rao I (Bengaluru) (11:48.755); 3. Navaneeth Kumar S (Puducherry) (11:50.591). Race-2: 1. Jagadeesh N (11:46.122); 2. Venkat Prabhu (Chennai) (11:49.456); 3. Yashas RL (Bengauru) (11:49.969).

TVS Rookie (Apache RTR 200) Race-2 (6 laps): 1. Shreyas Hareesh (Bengaluru) (12:53.089); 2. Jinendra Kiran Sangave (Kolhapur) (12:53.628); 3. Vignesh Goud (Hyderabad) (12:53.660).

TVS Media (Apache RTR 200) (5 laps): 1. Soham Thakur (Mumbai) (11:37.219); 2. Manaal Mahatme (Mumbai) (11:47.104); 3. Ajinkya Lad (Mumbai) (12:04.009).

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