INMRC: Rajiv Sethu, Prabhu Arunagiri, Mithun Kumar grab pole positions

Rajiv
#8 Rajiv Sethu - Honda Ten10

Chennai, September 21: Rajiv Sethu of Honda Ten10 Racing snatched the pole position in the premier Super Sport Indian 165cc class ahead of his TVS Racing rivals to set up an intriguing contest on the morrow after qualifying session in the fourth round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT, here on Friday.

Sethu put in a blistering lap of one minute, 54.999 seconds to nose out TVS Racing duo of defending champion Jagan Kumar (01:55.034) and Deepak Ravikumar (01:55.409). Jagan heads the championship table with 112 points, well clear of team-mate KY Ahamed (91) who qualified fourth (01:55.481). Sethu (70), who drew a blank in the previous round earlier this month, is placed fourth in the championship behind Ravikumar (74).

Earlier, Prabhu Arunagiri (Team Alisha Abdullah) qualified for pole position in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category though he did just three laps, but his timing of 01:54.857 was enough to put him ahead of the pack. Sparks Racing’s Rahil Pilari Shetty was second quickest followed by championship leader in this category, Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing).

Mithun Kumar of Honda Ten10 Racing topped the qualifying session in the Pro-Stock 165cc class with Naresh Babu (RACR) and Senthil Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing) completing the front row for tomorrow’s race.

Sparks Racing riders dominated the qualifying sessions in the Novice (165cc) and Girls (Stock 165cc) categories by claiming top two slots. In the Girls category, championship leader Ann Jennifer expectedly took the pole position ahead of team-mate Ryhana Bee while Bengaluru’s Aditya Immaneni and Karthik Mateti from Hyderabad were 1-2 in the Novice (165cc) class.

Immaneni enjoyed a fruitful afternoon as he also clinched pole position in the Yamaha MMSC One-Make Championship (Novice).

The results (Qualifying):

SuperSport Indian (165cc): 1. Rajiv Sethi (Honda Ten 10 Racing) (01min, 54.999sec); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (01:55.034); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) (01:55.409).

Pro-Stock (301-400cc): 1. Prabhu Arunagiri (Team Alisha Abdullah) (01:54.857); 2. Rahil Pilari Shetty (Sparks Racing) (01:55.962); 3. Amarnath Menon (Gusto Racing) (01:56.307).

Pro-Stock (165cc): 1. Mithun Kumar PK (Honda Ten10 Racing) (1:59.601); 2. Naresh Babu (RACR) (1:59.658); 3. Senthil Kumar (Honda Ten 10Racing) (2:00.510).

Novice (Stock 165cc): 1. Aditya Rao Immaneni (Sparks Racing) (02:08.109); 2. Karthik Mateti (Sparks Racing) (02:08.570); 3. Venkatesan I (Pvt, Chennai) (02:09.011).

Girls (Stock 165cc): 1. Ann Jennifer AS (Sparks Racing) (02:13.582); 2. Ryhana Bee (Sparks Racing) (02:13.605); 3. Shruthi Nagarajan (Apex Racing Academy) (02:16.014).

Yamaha MMSC One-Make Championship (Novice): 1. Aditya Rao Immaneni (Bengaluru) (02:09.825); 2. Nithin S (Bengaluru) (02:10.873); 3. Sanjay Kumar (Coimbatore) (02:11.571).