Shunning the odds, Harith takes day’s honours

Defending National champion Harith Noah overcame bike problems and won both the races in the Foreign Open Class, the premier event of the MRF MoGrip National Supercross Championship which had its season-opener at the CIAL ground, Nedumbassery, on Sunday.

TVS Racing's Harith Noah (in centre, No. 8) with the winners trophy at the MRF MoGrip National Supercross Championship's opening leg at Nedumbassery, near Kochi, on Sunday.

Defending National champion Harith Noah overcame bike problems and won both the races in the Foreign Open Class, the premier event of the MRF MoGrip National Supercross Championship which had its season-opener at the CIAL ground, Nedumbassery, on Sunday.

The seasoned C.D. Jinan was expected to give TVS Racing’s Harith, his Kerala state-mate, a strong challenge but he had a fall in both the rounds and ended the day fifth. But Harith had problems of his own.

“I expected things to be really bad, I had major bike problems in the first and second races. In the first race, I rode a spare bike, an older bike, after my main bike started misfiring during the two practice laps,” explained the 24-year-old Harith who hails from Shoranur.

“It was not up to the mark like my race bike, it had less power too, but somehow I managed to get the first spot. For the second race, they fixed my race bike but after a lap it started misfiring and it continued for the whole race. Somehow, I managed to win it too.”

Harith’s teammate A.W. Tanveer, who had a very good second race where he finished runner-up, was second overall while Chandigarh’s Prithvi Singh was third.

Positions after two races (read as team, bike, points from each round and day’s total):Foreign Open Class (SX1, Group A): 1. Harith Noah (TVS Racg, TVS RTR, 20+20 = 40 pts), 2. A.W. Tanveer (TVS Racg, TVS RTR, 10+17 = 27), 3. Prithvi Singh (Chd, Kawasaki KX, 13+13 = 26), 4. Ragved Barguje (TVS Racing, TVS RTR, 15+9 = 24), 5. C.D. Jinan (Ang’Ata Racg, Kawasaki RX, 11+11 = 22).