: Fifteen-year-old Md Mikail from Chennai lit up the fourth and penultimate round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship by setting a record of sorts at MMRT here today and grabbed pole position in the Honda NSF 250R category.
TVS Racings ace rider Jagan Kumar qualified first in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category,
Also qualifying for pole positions in their respective National championship categories were Ann Jennifer of Sparks Racing (Girls, Stock 165cc), Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racings Anish Shetty (Pro-Stock 201-300cc) and Venkatesan I (Novice, Stock 165cc) of Team Motomaniacz.
Mikail, riding the FIM Moto3-spec NSF 250R bike in the Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup one-make championship, clocked a blistering lap of 1 minute 47.887 seconds around the 3.717-km MMRT circuit in the qualifying session.
It was the fastest lap ever in a National championship event for bikes up to 250cc.
Second behind Mikahil, who is full time into racing and studies from home, was another Chennai teenager, Varoon Sadasivam (01:49.327) with Punes 12-year-old Sarthak Shrikant Chavan (01:51.342) qualifying third.
"I am very happy with my qualifying session, but I am working hard to do even better," said Mikail who is leading the championship in his category.
As well as these teenagers rode, the spotlight was on the Pro-Stock 301-400cc qualifying session, where seven-time National champion in the lower category Jagan Kumar, ninth on the leaderboard after a string of disappointing performances, showcased his mettle by putting in a hot lap of 01:54.037 for pole position.
Former National champion in this class, Amarnath Menon (Team Alishaa Racing) was second in 01:54.807, while TVS Racing's Deepak Ravikumar (01:55.221) completed the front row on the grid for tomorrow's race.
Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) topped the qualifying session in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc category with a flying lap of 01:57.646. Erula Racing's Mithun Kumar (01:58.310) was the second quickest and Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) qualified third in 01:59.192.
Earlier, international Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing), leading the championship in the Pro-Stock 165cc class, put the hammer down by topping the Free Practice session with a flying lap of 01minute, 59.115 seconds, pipping his closest rival, TVS Racings Jagan Kumar (01:59.239).
Sethus team-mate Sarath Kumar, also in the championship reckoning and trailing Jagan by just one point, was third quickest in 02:00.103, ahead of TVS Racings Kevin Kannan (02:01.102).
The qualifying session is scheduled for Saturday.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
