Classy Rahil Pillarisetty tops Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open race
Defending champion Jagathishree Kumaresan continued her dominating run in the Girls (Stock 165cc) class by notching her fourth win in five starts in a race that was red-flagged after three of the scheduled five laps following an on-track incident
CHENNAI: Notching his third win in five starts in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open class, Hyderabad’s Rahil Pillarisetty (RACR Castrol Power1) extended his lead on the points table in the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the Madras International Circuit, here on Saturday.
The day’s other winners in the National championship included Rajender Beedani (MAI Racing) from Hyderabad in the Stock 165cc (Novice) category, and Chennai’s Jagathishree Kumaresan (One Racing) who won a truncated Girls (Stock 165cc) race. Meanwhile, Raj Kumar (Motul Sparks Racing) from Coimbatore, topped the Stock 165cc (Novice) race and Mohamed Mikhail (Mad Rabbit Racing) from Thiruvallur, won a close contest in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) race while Venkatesh Iyyappan (Rookies Racing) took the honours in the Pro-Stock 200cc Open race that saw fraction of a second separating the top three.
The 27-year-old Rahil, piloting a Yamaha R3, who started from pole position, carried far too much pace for the rest and which ensured he had sufficient gap over his nearest rival, defending champion Sarthak Chavan (Petronas TVS Racing) at the finish line. Rahil’s team-mate Bengaluru’s Anish Damodara Shetty, a former two-time National champion, marked his return to racing after three years with a podium spot.
Later, in one of the closest finishes, the top three in the Pro-Stock 200cc Open race crossed the line almost together with Venkatesh Iyyappan, who had started from P5, just ahead of Senthilkumar (RDX Torque Racing) with Soorya PM (Chandra LGE Racing) in third spot. The race saw some exciting overtaking up and down the grid with the eventual winner decided only on the finish line.
Defending champion Jagathishree Kumaresan continued her dominating run in the Girls (Stock 165cc) class by notching her fourth win in five starts in a race that was red-flagged after three of the scheduled five laps following an on-track incident. Finishing in P2 was former National champion Ann Jennifer (Motul Sparks Racing) who was strongly challenging Jagathishree when the race was stopped. Young Rakshita Dave (RACR Castrol Power1) came in third.
Earlier, another Hyderabad rider, Rajender Beedani recorded his second win of the season in the highly competitive Stock 165cc (Novice) category. The 21-year-old BBA Student shrugged off a bad start which pushed him down to seventh but recovered quickly to join the front-runners. A contact with Aizawl’s Lal Nunsanga (Motul Sparks Racing) saw Rajender running wide and drop to fourth, but again he fought his way back to eventually win the race ahead of Lal Nunsanga and Tirupati’s CS Kedarnadh (KTM Gusto Racing India).
The Results (Provisional – all 6 laps unless mentioned):
National Championship:
Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open (Race-1): 1. Rahil Pillarisetty (Hyderabad, RACR Castrol Power1) (11 mins, 02.255secs); 2. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, Petronas TVS Racing) (11:02.570); 3. Anish Damodara Shetty (Bengaluru, RACR Castrol Power1) (11:09.875)
Pro-Stock 200cc Open (Race-1): 1. Vekatesh Iyyappan (Chennai, Rookies Racing) (11:52.417); 2. Senthilkumar (Coimbatore, RDX Torque Racing) (11:52.451); 3. Soorya PM (Chandra LGE Racing) (11:52.503)
Stock 301-400cc (Novice) (Race-1): 1. Mohamed Mikhail (Thiruvallur, Mad Rabbit Racing) (12:07.009); 2. Jagadeesh Nagaraj (Bengaluru, Motul Sparks Racing) (12:07.173); 3. Romario John (Kanchipuram, Rockers Racing) (12:21.433)