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Category: National Championship
The event counts as the National Championship recognised by FMSCI, the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, the governing body of motorsports in India, and the ASN recognised by FIA and FIM.
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Honda racers bring airbags to Indian two-wheeler racing at MMRT
Chennai, 12 Dec 2020: History was made today at the MMRT when for the first time in Indian two-wheeler racing, protective air bags vests were worn by the riders during the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2020.
The 10 under-18 riders, participating in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup Open (NSF 250R) category, donned the airbag vest that inflates on impact, thus providing additional protection to the racers in the event of a fall.
The initiative is another big step forward by the Madras Motor Sports Club and Honda Racing to take motorsport to the next level.
Last year, Honda introduced the Moto3-spec NSF 260R bikes as part of the Talent Cup programme, replacing the Honda CBR250R category, and designed to nurture Indian talent.
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KY Ahamed beats mentor Jagan Kumar in TVS 1-2 in Pro-Stock 301-140cc
Chennai, 11 Dec 2020: KY Ahamed led an emphatic 1-2 finish for TVS Racing as he vanquished his mentor and multiple champion Jagan Kumar to win the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc race in the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the Madras Motor Race Track at Irrungattukottai, near here, on Friday.
Later the Madras Motor Sport Club promoted Bike Racing Nationals, saw international Rajiv Sethu bring some cheer to Honda camp with a commanding win from pole position in the Pro-Stock 165cc class race, ahead of Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) and Mathana Kumar, the other Eneos Honda Erula Racing rider.
Other winners in the National Championship races of the day were the 22-year old Bengalurean Ullas Santrupt (RACR Castrol Power Racing) in the Novice (Stock 165cc) class and local lass Ann Jennifer of Sparks Racing, who took the honours with ease in the Stock 165cc race for girls.
Ann Jennifer Meanwhile, another Bengalurean, Abshikesh Vasudev chalked up a fluent win in the TVS One Make Championship (Open) and Navneeth Kumar from Puducherry topped in the Novice category of the same championship,
In the Pro-Stock 301-400cc race, Ahamed and pole-sitter Jagan fought a thrilling battle with the latter initially in the lead before his team-mate upped his pace to move into the front midway through the six-lap race. Thereafter, the duo opened up a sizeable lead over the rest of the pack for a 1-2 finish for TVS Racing. Completing the podium was Hyderabad’s Karthik Mateti (Gusto Racing).
The Pro-Stock 165cc race saw Sethu taking a sizeable lead at the start. Behind him, Jagan, Mathana Kumar and Senthil Kumar, the other Eneos Honda Erula Racing rider were involved in a close fight for podium spots. Jagan finally pulled off a brilliant move over Mathana at the last corner of the last lap to finished second.
Ullas Santrupt- Photos: Anand Philar Earlier, starting fifth on the 40-bike Novice race grid, Santrupt clawed his way through the field and eventually forged ahead to win from fellow-Bengalurean Nithin S (Sparks Racing) and privateer Mohan Babu (Chennai) with less than a second separating the trio. The final outcome was in suspense until the last couple of laps with the front-runners dicing hard for positions until Santrupt moved ahead and hung on to his slender lead.
The results (Provisional – all 6 laps unless mentioned):
National Championship:
Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-1): 1. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (11mins, 47.347secs); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (11:48.059); 3. Karthik Mateti (Gusto Racing) (11:51.430).
Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Eneos Honda Erula Racing) (12:08.653); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (12:13.410); 3. S Mathana Kumar (Eneos Honda Erula Racing) (12:13.445).
Novice (Stock 165cc, Race-1): 1. Ullas Santrupt (RACR Castrol Power Racing) (13:06.057); 2. Nithin S (Sparks Racing) (13:06.281); 3. Mohan Babu (Pvt, Chennai) (13:06.512).
Girls (Stock 165cc, Race-1, 5 laps): 1. Ann Jennifer (Sparks Racing) (10:58.872); 2. Lani Zena Fernandez (Gusto Racing) (11:14.395); 3. Alisha Abdullah (Sparks Racing) (11:14.456).
TVS One-Make Championship (Open, Race-1): 1. Abhishek Vasudev (Bengaluru) (11:48.941); 2. Karthik Mateti (Hyderabad) (11:54.768); 3. Anand R (Chennai) (11:54.954). Novice: 1. Navneeth Kumar (Puducherry) (13:20.647); 2. Sudheer Sudhakumar (Delhi) (13:24.196); 3. Teja TVR (Hyderabad) (13:24.218).
About Madras Motor Sports Club
Since its humble beginnings in 1953, the Madras Motor Sports Club has grown in stature as the hub of motorsport activity in India. Having moved from Sholavaram to its present location in Sriperumbudur in 1979, MMSC has kept pace with changing times by upgrading facilities. At a cost of about Rs 20 Crore, the MMSC built a pit complex comprising 20 garages, VIP hospitality suites and a viewing gallery, on the eastern side, apart from a second Paddock on the western side with its own short circuit. The Control Room too was upgraded with state-of-the-art hardware while the track itself was improved to meet the exacting FIA standards for Grade-2 certification. The facilities are also extensively used by various vehicle manufacturers for testing their products, displays and corporate days.
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MMSC set to host India’s biggest bike racing weekend
Chennai, 9 Dec 2020: Big grids, a massive card of 29 races and over 200 entries mark the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2020 which gets underway at the MMRT, here on Friday, behind closed doors, and in what is the biggest domestic racing weekend in India.
Due to the pandemic and consequent restrictions, the 2020 two-wheeler racing championship has been packed into two back-to-back weekends (Dec 11-13 and Dec 18-20) with competitions in 10 categories.
The National Championship comprises two Pro-Stock classes – the premier 301-400cc and 165cc – besides two Stock 165cc categories – Novice, which will have a grid of 40 riders, and Girls.
Also in the mix are two One-Make Championships organised by the MMSC – the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (CBR 150cc and NSF 250R) and TVS One-Make Championship (RTR 310 Open, Novice, Girls and Media).
MMSC have left no stone unturned in ensuring that not only all Covid-19 safety protocols are followed, but also to deal with the challenges posed by the unpredictable weather by providing grooved tyres also for the Pro-Stock categories.
Having endured a 15-month break since the 2019 season, the racers are chafing at the bit with all of country’s top riders lining up as also India’s leading bike manufacturers, Honda, TVS, Yamaha and KTM.
MMSC president Ajit Thomas said: “We are just bowled over by the response from the riders, especially the first-timers. Two-wheeler championship has always produced exciting and close races, and we expect much the same in the two rounds that we are organising this month. Due to the pandemic, lockdown and restrictions, the racing season was put on hold until last month when we squeezed in two rounds of races to complete the four-wheeler championship. Over the next two weekends, the safety protocols would be very much in place despite easing of restrictions and the events will be held behind closed doors.”
About Madras Motor Sports Club
Since its humble beginnings in 1953, the Madras Motor Sports Club has grown in stature as the hub of motorsport activity in India. Having moved from Sholavaram to its present location in Sriperumbudur in 1979, MMSC has kept pace with changing times by upgrading facilities. At a cost of about Rs 20 Crore, the MMSC built a pit complex comprising 20 garages, VIP hospitality suites and a viewing gallery, on the eastern side, apart from a second Paddock on the western side with its own short circuit. The Control Room too was upgraded with state-of-the-art hardware while the track itself was improved to meet the exacting FIA standards for Grade-2 certification. The facilities are also extensively used by various vehicle manufacturers for testing their products, displays and corporate days.
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JK Tyre Racing Nationals at Kari Speedweay
Coimbatore, 9 Dec 2020: The Kari Motor Speedway in Chettipalayam in Coimbatore will hear the familiar roar of Formula cars as the much-awaited 23rd JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship (JKNRC) gets under way here on Friday.
The organisers have put in place stringent protocols, matching international standards, to ensure that the back to back rounds are held with the safety, comfort and convenience of all the teams, drivers, their support staff, officials and media in mind. “We have studied and followed every precaution prescribed by the world as well as national governing bodies to make sure that the championship is conducted smoothly,” Sanjay Sharma, Head-Motorsport, JK Tyre said. “In these unprecedented times we are delighted that we could host such an important event in the FMSCI calendar,” he added.JKNRC this season will witness two categories – The National championship class on JK Formula LGB 4, an Indian manufactured single seater racing car weighing 450 kg with 1.3 litre engine and JK Tyre Novice Cup for rookie drivers on a similar looking formula 1300s but with different chassis design and suspension geometry. The former has attracted 26 of the country’s best drivers while the latter has more than 20.
There will be 12 races over three days, with each day witnessing four races (including two qualifying rounds on Day 1) that will test not only the speed but also the fitness and endurance of the drivers coupled with technical package put together by the teams.
As in the past, an all-women’s team from Ahura racing will also be in fray adding to flowing of adrenaline on the track.
The top racers of the country, including Vishnu Prasad, Raghul Rangasamy and Mira Erda (MSport), Ashwin Datta and T.S. Diljith (Dark Don Racing), and Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsport) to name a few will be in fray, battling for the honours.
The pomp and gaiety that comes as a package with every JK Tyre Racing Championship will however be missing this time around in adherence of safety regulations.
Among the key steps taken to battle COVID-19, the organisers will have clear dos and don’ts s right from the main entry gate to all the way up to the track. The pits too have been extended considerably to ensure social distancing.
Local officials will be helping with bulk of the work to avoid too many visitors from other cities and states.
The documentation and scrutiny will be on Thursday, followed by a compulsory drivers’ briefing towards the end of the day.
Friday will witness official practice sessions, qualifying rounds and two races in each category followed by four races on Saturday and Sunday.
For the sake of race lovers, who have always thronged the circuit in large numbers, the event will be streamed live on Sunday so that they don’t miss the action. Viewers can watch the races on:
www.jktyremotorsport.com/live
Facebook.com/jktyremotorsport
Youtube.com/jktyremotorsportAbout JK Tyre Motorsport:
JK Tyre has been closely associated with the world of motorsports for almost three decades back. The company laid down a long term plan to popularise and promote the sport in the country. Its first target was to change the notion that this was a sport for the elite. So it packaged and redesigned it in a spectator-friendly way, drawing the
masses to the sport.The company then endeavored to spot, nurture and sharpen the drivers to turn them into world champions. With this goal in mind, we conceptualized the JK Tyre National Racing Champion in 1997. Our efforts started paying dividends in just a few years’ time, with the likes of Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok going all the way to the F1 rung, the highest level of single-seat racing in the world. Since then, a number of stars emerged, including Armaan Ebrahim, the Maini brothers (Kush and Arjun), Anindith Reddy Konda, amongst many others.
Before all this, JK Tyre had a successful stint in rallying too, conquering the scene in the early 90s. At the same time, gradually, we moved on to various disciplines, including cross-country rallying and off-roading, leaving a mark in each of them with their unique and innovative ways. JK Tyre Motorsports is also very proud of the role it has played in bringing women into motorsports in a big way. Apart from encouraging them to get into the sport through karting as kids, we also gave them opportunities in various national championships. Last year was particularly rewarding for us as an All-Women Racing team was introduced for the first time in the LGB 4 category. In addition, the company also undertook various other initiatives to encourage them to try motorsports, even if for fun to begin with.
To supplement JK Tyre’s entry into the two-wheeler market, the JKNRC hosted the Suzuki Gixxer Cup and the Red Bull Road to Rookies Cup categories and saw enthusiastic participation from across the country. Today, the company is synonymous with motorsports, and even more so with racing, creating a lot of goodwill for
the brand. Right from budding racers to accomplished drivers in the country, everybody owes their rise and
success to JK Tyre. -
Ghosh leaves MRF and joins JK Tyre to partner Gill in #INRC2020
New Delhi, 3 Dec 2020: Former INRC champion and K1000 champion Amittrajit Ghosh left the Reds and joined Yellow on Thursday as the famed Yellow team, JK Tyre unveiled it’s team for the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship to begin at Itanagar for the first two rounds. The King of Indian motorsports, Gaurav Gill, will now have his long-time Mahindra teammate in yellow colours too.
Gaurav Gill with experienced Musa Sherif as co-driver and Ghosh with trusted Ashwin Naik will still be driving XUV300 vehicles, but the factory team entry from Mahindra is missing this year. The thrilling, new compact #MahindraXUV300, then gave some initial hiccups to Gill, the multiple National champion, came back from the blues of Jodhpur, and asserted his supremacy once again, winning the Popular Rally in Kerala. Mahindras have allowed both the top drivers to rally with their vehicles this INRC.
Amittrajit Ghosh of Kolkata leaves MRF and turns out in JK colours for INRC 2020. A JK Tyre image Arjuna Awardee Gill, will lead the team’s challenge once again as Yellows will be alone with their long-time rivals, Reds missing in action this year.
“Gill and Ghosh are two of the country’s finest drivers. Their testing and feedback of our products and development will add tremendous value in our endeavor to return to Indian rallying bigger and better,” Sanjay Sharma, Head of Motorsport, JK Tyre, said.
“We are happy to have them lead our challenge. Not just that, even in these unprecedented difficult times, India’s finest talent have found support of JK Tyre, country’s biggest patron of motorsport, adding up to 24 members who will be sporting our colors in the event.”
Among the accomplished drivers who will turn out in JK Tyre’s canary yellow colours are Dean Mascarenhas from Mangalore (former INRC champion; with navigator Shruptha Padival), Suhem Kabir from Coorg, Fabid Ahmer from Cochin and Syed Salman from Mysore amongst others.
Besides the above, standing true to their ethos of promoting and nurturing young and local talent, JK Tyre is also supporting 4 local teams from North East which includes an all-girls team.
Phurpa Tsering (with Yashwardhan Kumar), Ms Nabam Asha (Ms Dinky Varghese), Hage Naku (Hage Bitu) and Pem Sonam(with Lenin Joseph) are sure to get a lot of support from the fans in Arunachal Pradesh.
The INRC season gets underway in Arunachal Pradesh on December 16, with two back to back rounds. The third round will be held in Coimbatore and the final one in Bangalore.
They will be competing in various INRC categories in different cars but will have only one common theme: JK Tyre.
“We are looking forward to an interesting competition in the challenging terrains of Arunachal,” Gill said, revealing that he has been preparing for the season with renewed vigour. “I am happy to be back with JK after a brief hiatus,” Ghosh added.
About JK Tyre Motorsport:
JK Tyre has been closely associated with the world of motorsports for almost three decades back. The company laid down a long term plan to popularise and promote the sport in the country. Its first target was to change the notion that this was a sport for the elite. So it packaged and redesigned it in a spectator-friendly way, drawing the masses to the sport.
The company then endeavored to spot, nurture and sharpen the drivers to turn them into world champions. With this goal in mind, we conceptualized the JK Tyre National Racing Champion in 1997. Our efforts started paying dividends in just a few years’ time, with the likes of Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok going all the way to the F1 rung, the highest level of single-seat racing in the world. Since then, a number of stars emerged, including Armaan Ebrahim, the Maini brothers (Kush and Arjun), Anindith Reddy Konda, amongst many others.
Before all this, JK Tyre had a successful stint in rallying too, conquering the scene in the early 90s. At the same time, gradually, we moved on to various disciplines, including cross-country rallying and off-roading, leaving a mark in each of them with their unique and innovative ways.
JK Tyre Motorsports is also very proud of the role it has played in bringing women into motorsports in a big way. Apart from encouraging them to get into the sport through karting as kids, we also gave them opportunities in various national championships. Last year was particularly rewarding for us as an All-Women Racing team was introduced for the first time in the LGB 4 category. In addition, the company also undertook various other initiatives to encourage them to try motorsports, even if for fun to begin with.
To supplement JK Tyre’s entry into the two-wheeler market, the JKNRC hosted the Suzuki Gixxer Cup and the Red Bull Road to Rookies Cup categories and saw enthusiastic participation from across the country.
Today, the company is synonymous with motorsports, and even more so with racing, creating a lot of goodwill for the brand. Right from budding racers to accomplished drivers in the country, everybody owes their rise and success to JK Tyre.
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Arjun Balu finally gets a National title for Race Concepts in their 6th year
Chennai, 29 Nov 2020: The Gentleman of Indian Motorsports, and one of the best talent India has produced, Arjun Balu of Coimbatore was crowned National champion in the ribbon event, the Indian Touring Class in the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship which concluded at the MMRT, here on Sunday.
His team Race Concepts, which started six years ago, got all the monkeys off their back and won the championship fair and square and the Joel Joseph-led team, which had many talented drivers had to put up with some `off-the-track-excursion’ tactics by many a veteran driver. In the first few years, it was Deepak Chinnappa, turning out in Race Concepts Eneo colours, who was shunted out in Coimbatore and the `tactics’ went on in different ways to deny the talented and hard-working outfit, points in the title race and Arjun Balu too, a decent winner in many rounds of the Indian National Rally Championship, lost the title by a narrow margin the last two years, despite his best efforts and for reasons which are not in his control. This reporter has watched all the races of Race Concepts in the first five years before missing this year’s rounds due to Covid-induced restrictions on media and spectators as per government guidelines.
“This is our first championship win in six years. It has been a long and difficult journey with many ups and downs, but eventually, we clinched the title. I owe it to all the members of the Race Concepts team that worked long and hard to get us here,” said Joel Joseph.
From left: Raghul Rangasamy (Super Stock), Arjun Balu (Indian Touring Cars) and Tijil Rao (Formula LGB 1300) who were crowned the 2020 National Champions at Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) on Nov 29. All photos by Anand Philar A hugely relieved Balu, after sealing the championship with a race to spare, said: “After winning Race-1, I knew I needed just seven points from Race-2 to clinch the championship. So, I held the position through the 10 laps for P2. This championship win is most special and most satisfying for me. The previous two seasons, I missed the title by a whisker (to Ashish Ramaswamy and Dhruv Mohite) despite enjoying big leads early on. This title is also a tribute to Joel Joseph and his Race Concepts team which worked so hard, sparing no effort to make sure I get a competitive car.” A gentleman racer as humble as ever!
Also clinching the drivers’ titles in their respective categories were Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy of Performance Racing (Super Stock), 17-year old Bengaluru collegian Tijil Rao of Momentum Motorsport (Formula LGB 1300) and Thrissur’s Diljith TS (MRF Saloon Car series).
Tijil Rao, number 12 blue car, in action before clinching the title in FLGB1300 title. Balu, who was runner-up in the previous two seasons, endured a difficult, rain-affected weekend and did just enough to pick up crucial points by winning Race-1 and finishing second in Race-2 before retiring in Race-3 after a shunt. Dhruv Mohite of FB Motorsport won a double to help his team take the team championship.
Meanwhile, Rangasamy made up for a non-finish in Race-1 by surging to win in the next two outings for the title. In contrast, young Tijil Rao went without a win this weekend, but three podium finishes in the four races ensured him the crown.
The 2020 season was drastically impacted by the pandemic and was reduced to three rounds instead of the scheduled five. The first round was held in February and the remaining two this month behind closed doors while following the Covid-19 protocols.
Dilijith, the champion in the MRF Saloon Car Series for 2020. Indian Touring Cars: Race-1 (8 laps): 1. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (15mins, 31.003secs); 2. Keith D’Souza (FB Motorspor) (15:35.528); 3. Dhruv Mohite (FB Motorsport) (15:42.847). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Mohite (19:34.316); 2. Balu (19:36.706); 3.D’Souza (19:37.940). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Mohite (15:49.069); 2. D’Souza (15:49.378); 3. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) (16:31.373).
Super Stock: Race-1 (8 laps): 1. Alisha Abdullah (Race Concepts) (16:41.042); 2. Vineet Abhiram (Race Concepts) (17:02.885); 3. Sridhar Nagaraj (Race Concepts) (17:24.841). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (20:27.517); 2. Raja Rajan (Performance Racing) (20:28.739); 3. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) (20:43.616). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. Rangasamy (16:33.837); 2. Alisha (16:50.086); 3. Sridhar Nagaraj (16:52.214).
MRF Saloon Car Series: Race-1 (8 laps): 1. Sreeram Sridhar (Chennai) (17:30.244); 2. Diljith TS (Thrissur) (17:31.226); 3. Chandresh Tolia (Mumbai) (17:42.636). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (19:35.644); 2. Diljith (19:38.741); Sreeram (19:42.939). Race-3 (8 laps): 1. A Balaprasath (Chennai) (17:24.875); 2. Korada (17:26.241); 3. Diljith (17:27.661).
Formula LGB 1300: Race-1 (8 laps): 1. Viswas Vijayaraj (DTS Racing) (15:30.277); 2. Tijil Rao (Momentum Motorsport) (15:30.408); 3. Prithveen Rajan (Joba Racing) (15:30.588). Race-2 (10 laps): 1. Prithveen Rajan (Joba Racing); 2. Mohamed Ryan (M Sport); 3. Tijil Rao. Race-3 (8 laps): 1. A Balaprasath (M Sport) (15:23.138); 2. Raghul Rangasamy (M Sport) (15:29.350); 3. Ryan (15:29.724). Race-4 (7 laps): Viswas Vijayaraj (15:26.300); 2. Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsport) (15:27.162); 3. Tijil Rao (15:28.427).
National Champions:
Indian Touring Cars: Driver – Arjun Balu (Coimbatore, Race Concepts, 151 points). Team – FB Motorsport (262)
Super Stock: Driver – Raghul Rangasamy (Mamallapuram, Performance Racing, 154). Team – Race Concepts (289).
MRF Saloon Car Series: Diljith TS (Thrissur, 113).
Formula LGB 1300: Driver – Tijil Rao (Bengaluru, 122). Team – Momentum Motorsport (215).
About Madras Motor Sports Club
Since its humble beginnings in 1953, the Madras Motor Sports Club has grown in stature as the hub of motorsport activity in India. Having moved from Sholavaram to its present location in Sriperumbudur in 1979, MMSC has kept pace with changing times by upgrading facilities. At a cost of about Rs 20 Crore, the MMSC built a pit complex comprising 20 garages, VIP hospitality suites and a viewing gallery, on the eastern side, apart from a second Paddock on the western side with its own short circuit. The Control Room too was upgraded with state-of-the-art hardware while the track itself was improved to meet the exacting FIA standards for Grade-2 certification. The facilities are also extensively used by various vehicle manufacturers for testing their products, displays and corporate days.
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Jeet Jhabakh takes pole in ITC class before rains stop session: Racing Nationals
Chennai, 28 Nov 2020: Heavy showers in the afternoon forced curtailment of day’s schedule even as Hyderabad’s Jeet Jhabakh (FB Motorsport) grabbed the pole position in the premier Indian Touring Cars class as the third and final round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship commenced at the MMRT, here on Saturday.
Due to water-logged track the races were put off to Sunday. @Twitter The day’s proceedings began in bright sunshine with Formula LGB 1300 and the saloon cars going through their paces in two Free Practice sessions apiece before the rains halted further action. After a nearly two-hour break, the qualifying session for the saloon cars was run on a drying track with wet patches in some sections.
Jhabakh and teammate Dhruv Mohite from Kolhapur occupied the front row ahead of Coimbatore veteran and championship leader Arjun Balu of Race Concepts who, incidentally had topped the practice sessions. Completing the second row was Goa’s Keith D’Souza, also in a FB Motorsport livery.
Marshals trying their best after rains lashed the MMRT on Saturday. Images courtesy Twitter @VickyChandhok Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) was the quickest in the Super Stock category while Diljith TS from Thrissur snatched pole position in the MRF Saloon Car series class (Toyota Etios). All the three categories will be on a combined grid for the three races to be run on Sunday while the Formula LGB 1300 will have four runs.
As per the revised schedule for Sunday, the Formula LGB 1300 will have a qualifying session and four races interspersed with three Saloon car races.
The results (Qualifying):
Indian Touring Cars: 1. Jeet Jhabakh (FB Motorsport) (02mins, 02.041secs); 2. Dhruv Mohite (FB Motorsport) (02:02.599); 3. Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) (02:03.392).
Super Stock: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (02:09.276); 2. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) (02:10.038); 3. Alisha Abdullah (Race Concepts) (02:16.115).
MRF Saloon Car series: 1. Diljith TS (Thrissur) (02:15.996); 2. A Balaprasath (Chennai) (02:18.969); 3. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (02:20.943).
For Live streaming of Sunday’s races, please visit: https://en.madrasmotorsports.com/streaming/
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2-wheeler Rally Nationals (INRC) to begin with Puttur round: TVS raring to go
By David Bodapati
Puttur (Mangaluru), 27 Nov 2020: With four National champions under its colours, Team TVS Racing, a giant in the two-wheeler motorsports in the country, both rallying and racing, is raring to go as the MRF fmsci Indian Natioinal Rally Championship which begins here with the first round Special Stages (SS) organised at Panja, about 40km from here on Sunday.
A record number of entries of 67 including 4 ladies from across India have confirmed their participation. The 115.59km rally distance includes 57.39km special stage sections on the winding dirt roads, going up and down the lush-green rubber-estate hills in and around the scenic Panja. For other details and last year, Championship results read the build-up article here.
Rajendra RE, the star campaigner of TVS racing and the current National champion in the top class, the Group A Pro-Experts class will spearhead the challenge astride an Apache RTR450. He will have teammate Nataraj to deal with first to retain his title this year along with others as he goes for another title. Last year, he began with a bang winning the first three rounds before TVS pulled out of the Coimbatore leg for want of time to produce the homologation papers for their new bikes. However, Rajendra won again at the 5th round here, with Puttur turning out to be one of his favourites tracks as he sealed the title before the championship went to K1000, which he missed again.
Bengaluru’s Aishwarya Pissay, the Baja World Cup champion, will be defending her ladies title on an Apache RTR 200 4V, with Ryhana Bee astride a Hero Impulse and local star Arpita Bhat also on an Impulse, will be fighting for the minor slots but only time will tell if they spring a surprise. There are five entries and Tanika Shanbhag from Satara in Maharashtra, who beat favourite Ryhana in the Sprint Nationals Round 4 last Sunday, can throw a surprise or two. Aishwarya, who is multiple National champion in circuit racing after making her debut in 2016 has sacrificed racing to focus on the off-road event and made a stunning resilience rising like a phoenix from a life-threatening accident that made her bed-ridden for a few months last year.
Promoted by God Speed Racing, organisers Ace Events, who put Puttur in the motorsports map of India four years back, will be hosting the event for the fourth year running and the man behind the club, ace rider Akash Aithal, will be the Clerk of the Course. “The terrain is technical and tricky and at the same time provides a challenge to the riders who will surely enjoy the mix of dirt and gravel track, winding up and down with two physical stages named Karkala and Palangaya,” Akash said. God Speed Racing which also promotes the Supercross Nationals is headed by another giant, Shyam Kothari, who was a multiple champion in his heydays not just in supercross but also in rally and motocross. This reporter still remembers when Kothari last won his National title at the football stadium in Bengaluru. A truly stunning achievement to win seven National titles. Kothari said: “The pandemic has delayed the season but we are well prepared with all the safety measures in place. And ACE Events of Puttur has done extremely well in organising the event and all the riders are eager to get back to the track.”
“Team TVS Racing has fielded the same team as last year which has four champions. Though much of our time is lost due to the pandemic, we are well prepared and I am confident our champions will continue to keep the TVS colours flying once again,” said Team Principal, Selvaraj, who took over a couple of years back, from the legendary Arvind Padgaonkar, who led the TVS team for over two decades.
Aishwarya Pissay 2019 file photo by Ace Events, organiser of INRC for 2w Apart from Rajendra and Aishwarya, Imran Pasha and Syed Asif Ali. Pasha won the championship in the Class 4 for Super Sport 260cc bikes leaving Samuel Jacob (2nd in the championship) to fight with Sachin D last year. Asif Ali had won the National title in the Scooters upto 210cc class with ease as he took a huge lead in points as his teammates from TVS, Shamim Khan beat Pinkesh Thakur for the first runners-up in the championship battle. All the top-three riders in both these classes were trained and nurtured by Team TVS Racing and the factory team completed a championship sweep in these two classes.
Jatin Jain, a privateer from Nagpur, will defend his title in the Class 1A for Superbikes (Expert) and M Srikanth won the 2019 title in the Super Sport 130cc class while local star Ishan Chandra clinched Super Sport 165cc class. Mangaluru’s Sudeep Kottary in Super Sport 400 cc and Suhail Ahmed, who last Sunday won both the rounds of Sprint Nationals, will defend his title in the Super Sport 550cc Class 6. The other class left is Star of Karnataka for local riders, which is not counted for the National Championship points.
Sanjeev Matandoor, MLA Puttur, will be the Chief guest at the Ceremonial flag-off at the Puttur Club at 4.30 pm on Saturday. The PD (Prize Distribution) will be on Sunday.
Aakash Aithal will be the Clerk of the Course with the current Indian Rally Champion of four wheelers Chetan Shivaram, being the Assistant CoC. His co-driver Dilip Sharan is the CRO. Bhaskar Gupta of Karnataka Motor Sports Club is the Chief Steward. Chidananda NC and D Uday Kumar are the other stewards while experienced Yogesh Kalro will be the Technical Delegate.
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Can Arjun Balu clinch the title this year? Racing Nationals
Chennai, 27 Nov 2020: Arjun Balu of Coimbatore will be looking to clinch the championship in the plum ITC class as the abridged MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Championship 2020 draws to a close with the third and final round being held at the MMRT this weekend behind closed doors due to the pandemic.
The humble motorsports giant with a chequered motorsports career of over 20 years missed the Championship title last year because of certain issues beyond his control, but with a 36-point lead will be looking to garner as many points as possible in the final three races. He has to get 15 more points than second-placed Keith D’Souza of Goa to seal the title in the first race.
The two-day, seven-race programme, kicks-off on Saturday, and concludes on Sunday. The track which received a drenching from cyclone Nivar earlier this week has recovered well for the races to be held as scheduled.
The titles in all four categories – the premier Indian Touring Cars, Super Stock, Formula LGB 1300 and the MRF Saloon Car series – are up for grabs with very little separating the contenders, both individual and team championships.
As for the Championship stakes, the ITC class has Coimbatore’s Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) enjoying a 35-point lead over Goan Keith D’Souza (FB Motorsport) going into this weekend’s triple-header with a maximum of 75 points on offer. The two front-runners are followed by Jeet Jhabakh (FB Motorsport) from Hyderabad (52) and team-mate, Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite (45).
The situation in the Super Stock category is much tighter with Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy (Prime Racing) ahead of Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) from Bengaluru by just one point.
Momentum Motorsport’s Tijil Rao (72) and Chirag Ghorpade (62) lead the pack in the Formula LGB 1300 category that will have four races over the weekend with a maximum of 100 points up for grabs. Trailing the duo are DTS Racing’s Viswas Vijayraj (52) and former champion Arya Singh (42).
The MMSC-promoted MRF Saloon Car series (Toyota Etios), run by Arka Motorsport in conjunction with FB Motorsport, witnessed extremely close competition in the first round earlier this month with all three races producing different winners. So much so, a mere six points separate the four contenders – Diljith TS (55), A Balaprasath (54), Chandresh Tolia (52) and Chetan Korada (49).
Reviewing the season thus far, MMSC president Ajit Thomas said: “A few months back, at the height of the lockdown, we couldn’t even visualise resumption of the National championship. However, with the government easing the restrictions thereafter, we decided to kick-start motorsport activities after a nine-month break, even if it meant drastically scaling down the various National championships.
“We began last month by conducting the two-wheeler Drag races and followed it up with the Round-2 of the four-wheeler championship three weeks back. We put in place strict safety measures such as face masks, physical distancing, thermal screening and hand sanitizing besides restricting entry only to competitors, their helpers and officials. Unfortunately, we had to also exclude our friends from the Media who, nevertheless, extended wide coverage for which we are grateful, as also to our title sponsors, MRF Tyres.”
The weekend programme will be streamed live on MMSC’s Facebook page and website.
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MRF Mogrip 2w INRC Round 1 at Puttur on Nov 29
Bengaluru, 26 Nov 2020: The first round of the MRF Mogrip fmsci Indian National Rally Championship for two-wheelers will begin the 2020 calendar at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district on November 28 and 29.
A total number of 67 entries were received at the regular close of entries time on Nov 23 with only 8 more slots left for late entries (till Friday) as the organisers, Ace Events, restricted the number of bikes to 75 for safety and logistics convenience. Promoted by God Speed Racing of Pune, under the able guidance of former 7-time National champion, Shyam Kothari, the rally offers two Special Stages, a 9.7-km Karkala stage and 9.43-km Palangaya stage, which are run three times each on Sunday, making it six Special Stages for a total stage distance of 57.39km and along with 58.2km of transport, the first-round covers 115.59km.
TVS Racing is expected to dominate the proceedings once again in the top class but the huge number of privateers will make their presence in many other classes. Defending champion Rajendra RE in the Group A Pro-Expert SuperBike class is expected to spearhead the TVS Racing challenge once again but the other Group A class Super Bike (expert) is likely to witness stiff competition with reigning champion Jatin Jain having to deal with the likes of strong contenders Badal Doshi of Mumbai and Bengaluru’s Vishwas SD in this class. Last year, Rajendra began with a bang and won all the first three rounds before missing the fourth round at Coimbatore as Team TVS Racing pulled out, but one more win at Mangalore in the 5th round sealed the championship for him with 100 points and he did not take part in the last round, the K1000 in Bengaluru.
The Ladies class with Open Indian Motorcycles will see the presence of Aishwarya PM, the 2019 champion along with Ryhana Bee, who is fresh from the Sprint Nationals, where is she is leading the title race, and Dimpy.
Rajendra, the defending champ in the top class. Many riders like Sachin D, Suhail Ahmed, Sudeep Kottary and Sinan Francis have taken part in the Sprint Nationals to gain some valuable bike time on similar terrain and have won podium places. All of them will be raring to go in their respective classes.
Aakash Aithal will be the Clerk of the Course with the current Indian Rally Champion of four wheelers Chetan Shivaram, being the Assistant CoC. His co-driver Dilip Sharan is the CRO. Bhaskar Gupta of Karnataka Motor Sports Club is the Chief Steward. Chidananda NC and D Uday Kumar are the other stewards while Yogesh Kalro is nomiated as Technical Delegate.
You can watch a video produced by autotrack.ind.in for MRF Racing of last year’s action here.
INRC 2-W final Championship table 2019:
Class 1: Superbike (Pro-Expert):
1. Rajendra RE, TVS Racing, 100
2. R Nataraj, TVS Racing, 51
3. Nikhil Balakrishna, Privateer, 36
Class 1A: Superbike (Expert):
1. Jatain Jain, 101
2. Badal S Doshi, 65
3. Venu Ramesh Kumar, 33
Class 2 – Super Sport 130:
1. M Srikanth, 95
2. Azeeb Mohammed, 86
3. Santhosh Kour, 53
Class 3: Super Sport 165:
1. Ishan Chandra, 126
2. Francis PV, 90
3. Akshay Siddharamaaiyah, 53
Class 4: Super Sport 260:
1. Imran Pasha, TVS Racing, 118,
2. Samuel Jacob, TVS Racing, 91
3. Sachin D, TVS Racing, 90
Class 5: Super Sport 400:
1. Sudeep Kottary, 118
2. Vikram K, 58,
3. Shivan Wani, 48
Class 6: Super Sport 550:
1. Suhail Ahmed, 125
2. Arun Joy, 66
3. Devraj Venkatesh, 59
Class 7: S0 to S3 Scooters upto 210cc (S0 to S3):
1. Syed Asif Ali, TVS Racing, 143
2. Shamim Khan, TVS Racing, 102
3. Pinkesh Thakkar, TVS Racing, 93
Class 8 – Ladies Class: Ladies Class (Open Indian Motorcycles):
1. Aishwarya Pissay, TVS Racing, 150
2. Ryhana Bee, 48
3. Fazeela, 36.
ends
