Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing underlined his class by winning the high-profile Group B (165cc) Open class race after a brilliant last lap overtaking manoeuvre in the third round of the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT track here on Saturday.
The 26-year old Jagan from Chennai fought and won a hard battle against team-mate Harry Sylvester after the duo exchanged leads through the six laps. Lying second in the final lap, Jagan made his move on the outside to take the chequered flag in style.
"It was a tough race as Harry's bike had a better set-up. Harry and I exchanged lead before I overtook him on the last lap," said Jagan, who recently became the first Indian to win a race in the Asian Road Racing Championship.
Deepak Ravi Kumar of Moto-Rev Yamaha Racing completed the podium ahead of Ten10 Racing's Sarath Kumar while veteran Rajini Krishnan (Moto-Rev) retired after completing the first lap due to mechanical failure.
Sarath Kumar, however, finished the day on a high by winning the Honda CBR 250 class race in the One-Make Championship after holding off Sumit Lucas Toppo who crashed in the penultimate lap.
Meanwhile, Mathana Kumar of Ten10 Racing topped in the Group C (165cc) Open class and Vishwadev Muraleedharan chalked up his third win in five outings in the Group D (165cc) Open category.
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The Yamaha One-Make Championship race also witnessed some keen battles up and down the grid with Mithun Kumar winning in the R15 Open class and Kannan K emerging victorious in the R15 Novice category.
Chennai's Ananth Raj claimed his third consecutive win in the Gixxer Cup (Open) race after a close fight with Sathish Kumar of Chennai, while Vishwadev Muraleedharan recorded his third win in five starts in the Novice category.
KY Ahmed and Akanda Pratap Singh won the TVS RTR 160 Open and Novice classes, respectively while KY Kishoar survived a hectic tussle with Sivanesan S before winning the Honda CBR 150 (Novice) race that provided several thrilling moments.
Provisional results:
National Championship - Group B (165cc) Open (6 laps): Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) 1 (11mins, 47.413secs); Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) 2 (11:47.778); Deepak Ravi Kumar (Moto-Rev Yamaha Racing) 3 (11:55.826).
Group C (165cc) Open (6 laps): Mathana Kumar S (Ten 10 Racing) 1 (12:31.133); Harikirshnan R (Ten 10 Racing) 2A (12:35.612); Sumit Lucas Toppo (ProLap Racing) 3 (12:35.917).
Group D (165cc) Novice (6 laps): Vishwadev Muraleedharan (Sparks Racing) 1 (13:32.736); Kishor VS (Apex Racing Academy) 2 (13:34.667); Shane Thompson (pvt) 3 (13:42.412).
One-Make Championship - TVS RTR 160 Open (6 laps): KY Ahmed 1 (13:28.570); Arvind Ganesh R 2 (13:29.215); Kannan S 3 (13:29.218). Novice (Short Loop): Akhand Pratap Singh 1 (08:06.427); Romario J 2 (08:09.154); Sathish Kumar L 3 (08:12.353).
Yamaha - R15 Open (6 laps): Mithun Kumar PK (Chennai) 1 (13:21.542); Ramesh Kumar (Chennai) 2 (13:23.555); Padmanaban S (Chennai) 3 (13.24.111). R15 Novice (6 laps - Short Loop): Kannan K 1 (07:55.818); Joseph P Mathew 2 (07:57.545); Shankar Guru A 3 (07:57.649).
Honda CBR 250 Open: Sarath Kumar A(Ten10 Racing) 1 (12:16.724); Dinesh Kumar D (Pvt) 2 (12:40.449); Akash P Dingare (ProLap Racing) 3 (12:40.530). CBR 150 Novice (6 laps - short loop): Kishoar VS 1 (07:41.678); Sivanesan S 2 (07:41.682); Mahesh Murali M 3 (07: 42.486).
Suzuki Gixxer Cup Open (6 laps): Ananth Raj (Chennai) 1 (13:19.429); Satish Kumar A (Chennai) 2 (13:20.313); Abhishek Vasudev (Chennai) 3 (13:20.505). Novice (6 laps - short Loop): Vishwadev Muraleedharan 1 (7:48.692); Antony Peter 2 (7:55.826; Sreejith PR 3 (7:56.170).