MRF National Motorcycle Racing C’ship: Anish Shetty clinches 201-300cc title

Shetty posts his sixth win in a row in the fifth and final round of the Championship at the MMRT in Chennai.

Anish Shetty celebrates after clinching the championship. Photo: Special Arrangement

Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing’s Anish Damodara Shetty posted his sixth win in a row to clinch the Pro-Stock 201-300cc title in the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT in Chennai on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Shetty took an unassailable lead in the championship standing with a tally of 190 points, 67 clear of second-placed team-mate Abhishek Vasudev, with one more race to be run on Sunday and a maximum of 50 points at stake. Incidentally, it is Shetty’s second championship, having won the Pro-Stock 165cc title last year.

“At the start of the season, my goal was to win the championship in my category and I am happy that could achieve that. My thanks to my entire team, especially owner Ramji Govindarajan sir who all worked hard towards my success. My aim is to compete and win all formats of two-wheeler racing. Earlier this year, I won the Desert Storm (Cross-country Rally) and now this. Today, I knew if I win, I would seal the championship. Initially, I rode hard, seeing I had a good lead, I eased up. To win six races in a row is just amazing!” said Shetty, beaming.

In the NSF 250R (FIM Moto3-spec bikes) category of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup, 15-year-old Mohamed Mikel clinched his sixth consecutive win and his seventh from eight starts. Finishing second was 12-year-old Sarthak Shrikant Chavan from Pune ahead of Gadag’s 19-year old Kritik Vasanth Habib.

Also scoring a decisive win was Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category to move to the top of the leaderboard in this class.

Close win for Sarath

Sarath Kumar — belonging to the Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing team — eked out a close win over TVS Racing’s Jagan Kumar to take the championship lead in the Pro-Stock 165cc category. He leads team-mate Rajiv Sethu by six points. Sethu finished fifth.

Kevin Kannan ensured the second podium finish for Honda by coming in third ahead of TVS Racing’s K. Y. Ahamed. The six-lap race was red-flagged and reduced to four following a big crash involving two riders, Akash C. and Anand R. at the back of the field. Both riders were safe.

Sarath Kumar (front) won the Pro-Stock 165cc race. Photo: Special Arrangement

 

The race was reduced to four laps from scheduled six following a crash involving Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) and Satyanarayana Raju (Gusto Racing) who were competing in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category that was run on the same grid as the 201-300cc class.

Gusto Racing’s Karthik Mateti from Hyderabad was declared winner (301-400cc) ahead of fellow-Hyderabadi Rahil Pillari Shetty (Sparks Racing) and Chennai’s K. Y. Ahamed (TVS Racing). Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing), who finished fourth, continues to head the championship with a 12-point lead over Ahamed with Mateti a further 11 points behind in third spot.

• National Championship
• Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Karthik Mateti (Gusto Racing India) (07:43.694); 2.Rahil Pillari Shetty (Sparks Racing) (07:45.529); 3. K. Y. Ahamed (TVS Racing) (07:45.650).
• Pro-Stock 201-300cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Anish D. Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:02.611); 2. Mathana Kumar S (Honda Erula Atomic Racing) (08:04.556); 3. Mithun Kumar PK (Honda Erula Atomic Racing) (08:06.279).
• Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:05.465); 2. K. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (08:05.639); 3. K. Kannan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (08:06.066).
• Novice (Stock 165cc) Race-1: 1. Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) (13:05.011); 2. Manoj Y. (Team Motomaniacz Racing) (13:08.802); 3. Annish Samson (Team Speed-Up Racing) (13:08.970).

• One-Make Championship organised by MMSC
• Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-1): 1. Md. Mikail (Chennai) (11:07.289); 2. Sarthak Shrikant Chavan (Pune) (11:10.531); 3. Kritik Vasant Habib (Gadag) (11:10.624). CBR 150 (Race-1): 1. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) (13:11.576); 2. AS James (Chennai) (13:14.024); 3. Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) (13:15.938).
• TVS Open (RR 310) Race-1): 1. Soorya P. M. (Chennai) (11:56.038); 2. Anand R. (Chennai) (11:57.899); 3. Sivanesan Sethu (Chennai) (12:00.715). Novice (RTR 200) Race-1: 1. Anish Samson (Bengaluru) (13:13.028); 2.Manoj V. (Chennai) (13:13.061); 3. Ullas Santrupt (Bengaluru) (13:13.188). Girls (RTR 200) 5 laps: 1. Lakiya Lee (Chennai) (11:29.416); 2. Nivetha Jessica (Chennai) (11:39.457); 3. Haritha Muralikrishnan (Chennai)(11:40.534).