Double for Sarath Kumar

Chennai, Sep 9 - Shankar Sarath Kumar of MP Ten10 Racing and Sumit Lucas Toppo (Performance Racing) achieved an impressive double apiece as the curtains came down on the third round of the MMSC-Sidvin FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship here Sunday.

Sarath Kumar, the 20-year-old from Chennai, once again displayed his mastery to win the second race in the Honda CBR 250 Open class, like he had done Saturday when he broke from a four-rider bunch in the front to underline his talent.

Sunday saw Sarath, returning to domestic racing after a spell in the Moto GP (125cc) and the Italian series, take an early lead that he lost briefly before regaining the position to lead a four-bike convoy past the finish line.

Toppo took the honours in the Group C Open (165cc) class with a double that he achieved with some measure of comfort to hog the headlines on a day that had the Medical staff busy with a series of crashes one of which took out country’s top rider, Krishnan Rajini.

Riding in the showpiece Group A Superbike (600cc) class, Rajini, with five consecutive wins behind him, was expected to add one more win Sunday, but he slid off the track on the right-hander at the Bridge Complex on the second lap.

“I am not sure what happened. There was no warning for me to try and control the bike, but at the apex of the right-hander, the bike just slid across and there was nothing I could do,” said an obviously disappointed Rajini.

With Rajini retiring, Deepak Ravikumar of Preethi Racing won the event comfortably from M. Gautham (Moto-Rev India) and team-mate Harry Sylvester.

Also notching a double was Arun Muthukrishnan, a private entry, in the Group D 165cc Novice class while K. Jagan of TVS Racing also won both his races in the Group B Open (165cc) that had just five riders.

The results:

National Championship:

Group A (Superbikes, 600cc) 12 laps: Deepak Ravikumar (Preethi Racing) 1 (12mins, 43.477secs); Gautham M (Moto-Rev India) 2 (12:52.197); Harry Sylvester (Preethi Racing) 3 (13:10.527).

Group B Open (165cc) Race 1 (10 laps): K Jagan (TVS Racing) 1 (11:18.290); Deepak Ravikumar 2 (11:20.552); Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) 3 (11:30.239). Race 2: Jagan (11:25.857) 1; Sylvester 2 (11:28.768); Shyam Shankar (Moto-Rev India) 3 (11:39.214).

Group C Open 165cc: Sumit Lucas Toppo (Performance Racing) 1 (12:16.873); D Dinesh Kumar (Moto-Rev India) 2 (12:21.343); Shyam Shankar (Moto-Rev India) 3 (12:31.531).

Novice (130cc) Race 1 (10 laps): Kamlesh Thakur (Sparks Racing) 1 (14:09.981); Ramesh Kumar R (Moto-Rev India) 2 (14:10.157); KY Ahmed (TVS Racing) 3 (14:21.549). Race 2: Ramesh Kumar R 1 (13:55.043); Thakur 2 (13:55.062); Ahmed 3 (14:00.914).

Group D Novice (165cc) Race 1 (10 laps): Arun Muthukrishnan 1 (12:57.459); Sandesh P (Performance Racing) 2 (12:57.894); R Ramesh Kumar (Moto-Rev India) 3 (13:11.586). Race 2: Arun Muthukrishnan 1 (12:59.309); R Ramesh Kumar 2 (13:03.788); Sandesh P 3 (13:03.895).

One Make Championship:

Honda – CBR 250 Open (10 laps): Sarath Kumar (MP Ten10 Racing) 1 (12:11.337); A Prabhu (Moto-Rev India) 2 (12:11.640); D Dinesh Kumar (Moto-Rev India) 3 (12:12.015).

CBR 150R Open (6 laps): N Abhishek 1 (07:59.267); Sumit Lucas Toppo 2 (07:59.497); Aravind Ganesh 3 (07:59.943). CBF Stunner Open (8 laps): S Padmanabhan 1 (11:24.615); Parthiv S 2 (11:27.589); J Allwyn Jebaz 3 (11:28.372).

TVS – Apache RTR 180 (Novice, 6 laps): Prashanth Kumar 1 (08:21.212); Arun Muthukrishnan 2 (08:23.020); Rahul G Rathod 3 (08:23.425). Apache RTR 180 Open (10 laps): P Ananth Raj 1 (13:27.169); Rajesh Rathina Kumar 2 (13:29.082); S Padmanabhan 3 (13:30.043).

Yamaha – YZF R15 Open (Race 1, 10 laps): D Dinesh Kumar 1 (13:04.266); S Vivek Pillai 2 (13:04.469); Shyam Shankar 3 (13:04.865). Race 2: Shyam Shankar 1 (12:56.697); D Dinesh Kumar 2 (12:56.829); M Sudhakar 3 (12:57.074).

YZF R15 Novice (6 laps): Sandesh P 1 (07:55.754); Rahul G Rathod 2 (07:57.039); Prashanth Kumar 3 (07:58.117).