Bengaluru-based fitness trainer Anish Damodara Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) posted his sixth win in a row to win the Pro-Stock 201-300cc title in the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship at nearby Sriperumbudur here on Saturday.
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Mohamed Mikail from Chennai chalked up his sixth consecutive win and seventh from eight starts in the NSF 250R (FIM Moto3-spec bikes) category of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup with two races to spare and which would be run on Sunday.
Finishing second behind Mikail was 12-year old Sarthak Shrikant Chavan from Pune ahead of Gadags 19-year old Kritik Vasanth Habib.
Also scoring a decisive win was Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) from Jind, Haryaya, in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category to move to the top of the leaderboard in this class.
The experienced Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) eked out a close win over TVS Racings Jagan Kumar to jump into championship lead in the Pro-Stock 165cc category.
He leads team-mate Rajiv Sethu by six points.
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Sethu finished fifth.
Kevin Kannan ensured a double podium for Honda by coming in third ahead of TVS Racings K Y Ahamed after the six-lap race was red-flagged and reduced to four following a big crash involving two riders, Akash C and Anand R (both riders ok) at the back of the field.
The 24-year old Shetty, who hails from Hubballi, Karnataka, took an unassailable lead in the championship standings with a tally of 190 points,67 clear of second placed team-mate Abhishek Vasudev, with one more race to be run on Sunday and a maximum of 50 points at stake.
Incidentally, it is Shettys second championship, having won the Pro-Stock 165cc title last year.
The race was reduced to four laps from scheduled six following a crash involving Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) and Satyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing) who were competing in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category that was run on the same grid as the 201-300cc class.
After the race, Gusto Racings Karthik Mateti from Hyderabad was declared winner (301-400cc) ahead of fellow-Hyderabadi Rahil Pillari Shetty (Sparks Racing) and Chennais KY Ahamed (TVS Racing).
Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing), who finished fourth, continues to head the championship with a 12-point lead over Ahamed with Mateti a further 11 points behind in third spot.
"At the start of the season, my goal was to win the championship in my category and I am happy that could achieve that.
My thanks to my entire team, especially owner Ramji Govindarajan sir, who all worked hard towards my success. My aim is to compete and win all formats of two-wheeler racing.
Earlier this year, I won the Desert Storm (Cross-country Rally) and now this," Shetty said after the triumph.
"Today, I knew if I win, I would seal the championship. Initially, I rode hard, seeing I had a good lead, I eased up. To win six races in a row is just amazing," he added.
Results (Provisional, all 6 laps unless mentioned): National Championship: