International rider Sarath Kumar led a podium sweep for Ten10 Racing team as he put in a command performance to win the Honda CBR 250 Open race and light up the One-Make Championship that was run as part of the MMSC Race Fest meeting at the Buddh International Circuit here on Saturday.
Sarath started from pole position and won in style to beat team-mates Mathana Kumar and Rajiv S. Such was Sarath's dominance that he had the luxury of easing off midway through the nine-lap race.
"I opened up a comfortable lead after a couple of laps and later, I didn't see any need to push too hard. I eased off a bit in the latter half of the race. I want to win the other race tomorrow and seal the championship," said Sarath after increasing his lead to 58-point lead over his nearest rival Sumit Lucas Toppo (Prolap Racing).
In the Honda CBR 150 (Novice) category, Sivanesan P picked up crucial 18 points by finishing second behind Aravind B. The placing took Sivanesan's championship tally to 141 for a 25-point lead over Aravind.
Meanwhile, Ananth Raj sealed the championship in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Open) category though finishing fifth as the 10 points he earned took his tally to 166 and beyond the reach of his rivals.
Meka Vidhuraj of Andhra Pradesh won the race ahead of Kamlesh P Thakur and Rajinikanth R, but the results did not hurt Ananth Raj's championship chances.
However, in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup for Novice riders, championship leader in this category Vishwadev Muraleedharan chalked up his fifth win of the season ahead of Amarnath Menon and Ajeesh A.
The victory took Muraleedharan's championship tally to 187 while Menon remained within touching distance with 178 as the duo will go head to head on Sunday in the final race of the series.
The championship stakes in the TVS Apache RTR 180 series turned intriguing. Kannan S won the Open class race and moved to second spot on the leaderboard, just seven points behind Aravind Ganesh who was placed second behind Arun Muthukrishnan. The other title contender K.Y. Ahmed came in fourth and slid to third in the championship.
The Novice race saw Akhanda Pratap Singh coming up trumps which saw him move to 102 points, 10 clear of Satish Kumar who finished a distant fourth.
Mezaan Anees along with the twins from Kerala Hisham and Hashim dominated the Toyota Etios Motor Racing trophy category with podium finishes in both the races. While Anees won the first race, Hisham took the honours in the next.
Provisional results:
Honda CBR 250 (Open) - 8 laps: Sarath Kumar (Ten10 Racing) 1 (12mins, 26.034secs); Mathana Kumar (Ten10 Racing) 2 (12:26.526); Rajiv S (Ten10 Racing) 3 (12:35.431). Honda CBR 150 (Novice) - 6 laps: Aravind B 1 (10:18.753); Sivanesan S 2 (10:19.427); Anish Shetty 3 (10:19.750).
Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Open) - 8 laps: Meka Vidhuraj 1 (13:57.519); Kamlesh P Thakur 2 (14:08.893); Rajinikanth R 3 (14:10.221). Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Novice) - 6 laps: Vishwadev Muraleedharan 1 (10:35.639); Amarnath Menon 2 (10:42.936); Ajeesh A 3 (10:43.683).
TVS Apache RTR 180 (Open) - 8 laps: Kannan S 1 (13:49.524); Arun Muthukrishnan 2 (13:49.735); Aravind Ganesh 3 (13:50.270). TVS Apache RTR 180 (Novice) - 6 laps: Akhanda Pratap Singh 1 (10:36.019); MalsawmdawglianaA 2 (10:36.170); Udipta Kumar Rath 3 (10:36.502).
Toyota Etios Motor Racing Trophy (Race 1, 9 laps): Mezaan Anees 1 (14:33.311); Hashim 2 (14:33.419); Hisham 3 (14:34.636). Race 2: Hisham 1 (14:35.558); Hashim 2 (14:35.878); Mezaan Anees 3 (14:39.878).
