Honda Ten10 Racing rider Senthil Kumar registered a victory in the first race of the Pro Stock 165 cc category in the fourth round MRF-MMSC FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship at nearby Sriperumbudurur Saturday.
The marquee Super Sport 165cc race was a nail biting one as K Y Ahamed scored a last lap victory to lead a 1-2 finish for TVS Racing.
Team Honda's Mathana Kumar bagging finished third, taking the number of podiums for the Tiruchirappali rider to four, including one win so far this season.
Sarath Kumar too climbed ranks by starting from last in the combined grid of Super Sport 165cc and Pro Stock 165cc to finish fourth. Honda rider Rajiv Sethu finished fifth after a minor crash.
Honda's Asia Road Racing Championship rider Anish Shetty climbed from eighth position at the start to finish fourth in 2:00.274.
Another Honda rider, Mithun Kumar crashed out in the second lap of the race.
On a day which witnessed crashes in virtually every race, Prabhu Arunagiri (Team Alisha Abdullah) took the honours in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc class race that was red-flagged and re-started.
Meanwhile, 17-year old collegian from Chennai, Ann Jennifer chalked up her third win of the season in the Girls (Stock, 165cc) race after surviving a close fight with her Sparks Racing team-mate Ryhana Bee.
The final outcome of the Super Sport race was in suspense until the last lap with Ahamed, his team-mate and defending champion Jagan Kumar and Honda Ten10 Racings Rajiv Sethu locked in a tight battle.
On the last lap, going into the right-hander before the Bridge Complex 'S', Sethu ran wide and crashed even as Jagan dipped on the inside to overtake. It put Ahamed in the clear as he flashed across the finish line ahead of his mentor Jagan for his third win of the season.
Mathana Kumar came home a distant third, followed by team-mate Sarath Kumar while Sethu picked himself up to finish fifth.
The result took Jagan's tally to 130 followed by Ahamed (116), Sarath and Mathana (both 82) and Sethu (80), going into tomorrow's second race.
The Pro-Stock 301-400cc race saw championship leader Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) crashing at Turn-3 which brought out the red flag. On re-start,Arunagiri,who had led from pole, maintained his position at the very front to win comfortably.
His nearest challenger Satyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing) retired due to an electrical failure. Finishing behind Arunagiri were Sparks Racing duo of Rahil Shetty and Peddu Sriharsha.
With his second win of the season, Arunagiri moved up to 89 points to be placed third behind Menon (108) and Raju (101), going into the second race tomorrow.
Results (Provisional): Super Sport Indian 165cc (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. K Y Ahamed (TVS Racing); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing); 3. S Mathana Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing).
Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-1, 5 laps): 1. Prabhu Arunagiri (Team Alisha Abdullah Racing); 2. Rahil Shetty (Sparks Racing); 3. Peddu Sri Harsha (Sparks Racing).
Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Senthil Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing); 2. Kevin Kannan (Rockers Racing); 3. Rahil Shetty (Sparks Racing).
Girls (Stock, 165cc, 5 laps): 1. Ann Jennifer AS (Sparks Racing); 2. Ryhana Bee (Sparks Racing); 3.Shruthi Nagarajan (Apex Racing Academy).
Yamaha-MMSC One-Make Championship (Novice, Race-1, 5 laps): 1. Varun Sobhan (Cherthala) (11:07.221); 2. Ajai Xavier (Pune) (11:07.843); 3. Hari Prasath (Vellore) (11:20.423).
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
