Rookie motorbike rider Ramesh bags a double

Coimbatore - Rookie rider R. Ramesh Kumar of Team Moto-Revi India marked his presence with a splendid double in the first round of the MMSC-Sidvin National Motorcycle Racing Championship, here Sunday.

Ramesh Kumar, a second year engineering student from Chennai, astride the Yamaha R15 for the first time in a competition and though not having ridden on the Kari Motor Speedway track earlier, won both the races in the Group D 165cc (Novice) class.

“Ramesh had tested at the Chennai track earlier and was quite impressive. He has never ridden in a race prior to this weekend and yet delivered good results for our team,” said Moto-Rev team co-owner Bala Vijay.

In fact, Moto-Rev India team, in just its third season, enjoyed a very successful weekend with a clutch of top finishes and podium positions with their lead rider 32-year old Krishnan Rajini topping with a double in the premium Superbike (600cc) class.

As in the first race Saturday, Rajini, riding the Yamaha R6, faced no competition in the second outing Sunday, but though not being pushed, he put in some hot laps much to the delight of the huge holiday crowd.

“My podium finish in the Qatar series recently has certainly boosted my confidence. I am also working hard on my riding technique and the results are showing,” said Rajini.

Rajini’s team-mate Shyam Shankar also won his second race of the weekend with another fine performance in the Group C 165cc Open class to top the leaderboard with 20 points.

Shankar from Chennai, who is scheduled to participate in a race in Japan later this month, said: “This round was a good preparation for me ahead of the race in Japan. It was tough going here, especially in the first race Saturday, but today, I was feeling far more comfortable and of course, I am very happy to achieve a double.”

Shankar also swept both the races in the YZF R15 Open class of the Yamaha One-Make Championship to complete a profitable weekend.

Also achieving a double was Jalagaon’s Kamlesh Thakkur of Sparks Racing in the Group D 130cc Novice class again winning from Moto-Rev India’s Shamilsen by seven seconds, as against three in the first race Saturday.

The results:

National championship

Group A Superbikes (600cc, Open, 12 laps): Krishnan Rajini (Moto-Rev India) 1 (13mins, 06.981secs); Deepak Ravikumar 2 (13:33.866); Gautam M (Moto-Rev) 3 (13:52.051.

Group B 165cc Open (10 laps) – Race 1 (10 laps): Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) 1 (12:21.433); Shyam Shankar (Moto-Rev) 2 (12:39.928); P Karthick (TVS Racing) 3 (12:53.424). Race 2 (10 laps): K Jagan (TVS Racing) 1 (12:14.578); Deepak Ravikumar 2 (12:21.513); Harry Sylvester (TVS Racing) 3 (12:21.895).

Group C 165cc Open (10 laps): Shyam Shankar (Moto-Rev) 1 (13:33.834); Sumit Lucas Toppo (Performance Racing) 2 (13:40.299); N Abhishek (Moto-Rev) 3 (13:45.212).

Group D 165cc Novice – Race 1 (8 laps): R Ramesh Kumar (Moto-Rev) 1 (11:08.400); Sandesh P (Performance Racing) 2 (11:14.448); Arun Muthukrishnan 3 (11:24.931). Race 2 (8 laps): R Ramesh Kumar (Moto-Rev) 1 (11:09.555); Sandesh P (Performance Racing) 2 (11:21.135); Kamlesh Thakkur (Sparks Racing) 3 (11:27.493).

Group D 130cc Novice (8 laps): Kamlesh Thakkur (Sparks Racing) 1 (12:04.863); Shmailsen (Moto-Rev) 2 (12:11.389); Abdul Wahab (TVS Racing) 3 (12:16.496).

One-Make Championship

Honda – CBF Sunner Open (8 laps): Thamarai Kannan 1 (12:08.799); R Ramesh Kumar 2 (12:08.832); Santhosh GR 3 (12:09.434). CBR 150R Open (10 laps): Arvind Ganesh 1 (14:17.490); Sumit Lucas Toppo 2 (14:24.890); N Abhishek 3 (14:27.204). CBR 250R Open (10 laps): Gautam M (Moto-Rev) 1 (12:26.192); A Prabhu (Moto-Rev) 2 (12:30.424); Sudhakar Kesavan 3 (12:32.889).

Yamaha – YZF R15 Open (10 laps) Race 1 (10 laps): Shyam Shankar 1 (14:06.903); SK Prakash 2 (14:13.906); S Padmanabhan 3 (14:17.192). Race 2 (10 laps): Shyam Shankar 1 (16:06.935); D Dinesh Kumar 2 (14:15.117); M Sudhakar 3 (14:15.150). YZF R15 Novice (8 laps): R Ramesh Kumar 1 (11:24.795); Sandesh P 2 (11:29.476); Meka Vidhuraj 3 (11:51.124).

TVS – Apache RTR 180 Open (10 laps): SK Prakash 1 (14:27.380); P Ananth Raj 2 (14:28.493); S Padmanabhan 3 (14:29.516). Novice (8 laps): Rahul G Rathod 1 (12:06.726); S Prem Hari 2 (12:13.375); Jonathan Clifford 3 (12:14.835).