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Tag: Sarath Mohan

  • Rajendra, Overall National Rally Champ; Sarath Mohan, claims Experts class title

    Rajendra, Overall National Rally Champ; Sarath Mohan, claims Experts class title

    Nashik, 5 Feb 2023: Multiple National champion from Petronas TVS Racing team, Rajendra RE, regained the overall crown for 2022 in the top Super Bikes Pro-Expert class winning the Rally of Nashik while Sarath Mohan clinched his maiden National title in the other premier Expert class, without even shifting a gear, as the sixth and final round of the MRF MoGrip fmsci National Rally Championship for two-wheelers – 2022 concluded here on Sunday.

    Sarath Mohan, claims Experts class 1A National title

    Meanwhile, Sarath Mohan from Mallapuram, Kerala, clinched the National crown in the Super Bike Expert Group A Class 1A with two rounds to spare and did not take part in the Rally of Nashik, as the dates clashed with his Rally Raid cross-country training in UAE.

    Other champions who clinched the National title with a round to spare are Sasi Kumar K in the Super Sport 165 Group B Class 3, TVS rider Imran Pasha, in the Super Sport 260 Group B Class 4 and VS Naresh, in the Super Sport 550 Group B Class 6.

    P2 good enough for Aishwarya to clinch 6th consecutive Ladies title

    Today, Bengaluru’s TVS talent Aishwarya Pissay came second behind rookie local rider Tanya Singh, who won the Ladies class. The champion took it easy, with one hand on the title, and the second place was enough to clinch her a sixth-straight title. Second in the championship standings, Kerala rider Fazeela, did not take part in the Nashik Rally.

    Entering the final round with a 12-point lead, the TVS speedster, Aishwarya, avoided any risks as she navigated the technical course with deft control on her TVS TR 200R, a lean machine that rounded off her 2022 campaign. She maintained steady pace and cleverly played it easy to clock 40min, 21.597seconds for the two special stages before the final stage was cancelled today.

    Oldest still the quickest – Venu claims title beating younger boys

    Veteran Venu Ramesh Kumar, a privateer from Coimbatore who is the oldest competitor in the Nationals, gained points with his consistency and clinched the title in Super Sport 400cc Group B Class 5. TVS Racing star Shamim Khan, astride a NTorq won the Scooter class crown.

    Going into the final round with 73 points, a third place was enough for Venu Ramesh Kumar to clinch the National title in Class 5 as his closest rival Hansraj Saikia (also 73) from Assam did not take the start as his bike did not arrive. Russell Jossy won the Nashik Rally and Amog Nag finished second.

    Third Special Stage cancelled

    The Rally of Nashik was organised by AW Events. The six-round MRF MoGrip fmsci National Rally Championship for two-wheelers, promoted by GodSpeed Racing, concluded with champions decided in eight classes. With time lost due to incidents in Stage 1, the final Special Stage (SS 3) was cancelled. Two other Support classes, including one for Star of Maharashtra, were also held.

    Petronas TVS Racing factory rider from Shivamogga, Rajendra, began with a blistering 15min, 58.429 seconds in the first Special Stage (SS) and pelted out another fastest time in SS2 but with his teammate and nearest rival Abdul Wahid Tanveer, pulling out in the very first stage, the 2019 National champion, won the title with ease. Rajendra began with a fourth place in the first round and did not start Round 2. Later, he won all the four rounds to clinch the National title again.

    Shamim Khan (80), who was leading by just three points against Pinkesh Thakkar (77) needed a victory and he did it in style clocking fastest times in both the stages today. Syed Asif Ali came second and Thakkar finished third.

    Of the 49 entries, 47 took the start only 40 riders finished the course in Nashik.

    National Rally Championship classes 2W) title winners for year 2022 (Provisional):

    Class 1: Super Bike Pro- Expert: Rajendra RE, (TVS, Shivamogga) Points 112;

    Class 1A: Super Bike Expert Group A: Sarath Mohan (Mallapuram) 100;

    Class 2: Super Sport 130cc Group B: Chalass K Bose (Kottayam) 136;

    Class 3: Super Sport 165cc Group B: Sasi Kumar K (Coimbatore) 108;

    Class 4: Super Sport 260cc Group B: Imran Pasha J (TVS, Mysuru) 125;

    Class 5: Super Sport 400cc Group B: Venu Ramesh Kumar (Coimbatore) 88;

    Class 6: Super Sport 550cc Group B: Naresh VS (Bengaluru) 125;

    Class 7: Group B Ladies Class: Aishwarya Pissay (TVS, Bengaluru); 118;

    Class 8: Group B Scooters upto 210cc: Shamim Khan (Nashik) 105;

    Provisional Results (Rally of Nashik):

    Class 1: Super Bike Pro- Expert: 1. Rajendra RE, (TVS) 32min, 19.538sec; 2. Samuel Jacob (TVS) 33:25.601; 3. Nataraj R (TVS) 33:46.862.

    Class 1A: Super Bike Expert Group A: 1. Badal S Doshi 37:34.399; 2. Tabish Rizvi 40:40.487; 3. Yogesh Kagale 43:10.991.

    Class 2: Super Sport 130cc Group B: 1. Chalass K Bose 37:39.479; 2. Anoop Manjappa 39:37.944; 3. Nadir Khan 44:57.644.

    Class 3: Super Sport 165cc Group B: 1. Niraj Wanjale 38:14.280; 2. Muzaffar Ali 41:05.577; 3. Rahul S Mokashi 41:41.440 (including 10sec penalty);

    Class 4: Super Sport 260cc Group B: 1. Imran Pasha J (TVS) 33:30.616; 2. Banteilang Jyrwa (TVS) 33:40.991; 3. Sachin D 34:03.492.

    Class 5: Super Sport 400cc Group B: 1. Russel Jossy35:45.979; 2. GS Amogh Nag 36:14.097; 3. Venu Ramesh Kumar 36:58.612;

    Class 6: Super Sport 550cc Group B: 1. Hitesh S Ghadge 39:49.175; 2. Nilesh Y Thakare 41:46.765; 3. Santosh Sarkale 41:59.796.

    Class 7: Group B Ladies Class: 1. Tanaya S Singh40:04.057; 2. Aishwarya Pissay (TVS, Bengaluru) 40: 21.597;

    Class 8: Group B Scooters upto 210cc: 1. Shamim Khan (TVS) 36:07.905; 2. Syed Asif Ali 36:25.659; 3. Pinkesh Thakkar 36:54.406.

    Class 9: Super Stock Group D upto 450cc: 1. Sabarish R 36:28.257; 2. Goutham Rao R 38:43.776; 3. Tanay S Kasera 39:28.858.

    Class 10: Star of Maharashtra: 1. Lokesh A Bhosale 38:17.522;  2. Amarendra Sathe 39:43.636; 3. Kaustubh Machhe 45:53.070;

  • TVS’ Rajendra wins K1000; Sarath Mohan, top privateer

    TVS’ Rajendra wins K1000; Sarath Mohan, top privateer

    Bengaluru, 14 Aug 2022: Former National champion  Rajendra RE of Petronas TVS Racing notched up a hard-fought second consecutive victory beating teammate and defending champion Abdul Wahid Tanveer in the K1000 2-wheeler rally, the fourth round of the GodSpeed Racing fmsci MRF Mogrip National 2w Rally Championship 2022 organised by Karnataka Motor Sports Club here at the Tribal Adventure Cafe on Sunday.

    While Tanveer began the season with a victory at Chikmagaluru, Rajendra bounced back with a fine victory at Coimbatore in Round 3, and with this K1000 win, he took a narrow 1-point lead on the championship table with two rounds to go. All the TVS riders missed Round 2 due to new technical regulations.

    Rajendra, the Shivamogga talent, started cautiously as some parts of the Special Stages remained slushy but still clocked the fastest times in all the six Special Stages. However, despite having about 8-second lead, he threw caution to winds and clocked a blistering 7min, 12.207sec in the final Special Stage to make over 12 seconds that left Tanveer clueless. Nataraj, finished a distant third. Samuel Jacob and Imran Pasha (SS 260cc) completed the top-5 sweep for TVS.

    Sarath Mohan and Naresh VS are the only riders who have won all the four rounds, thus far, and are well on their way to National Championship honours.

    All-win streak continues: Sarath Mohan sweeps all rounds in Superbike Expert class

    Kerala’s Sarath Mohan, astride a Husqvarna FE450, became the top privateer, taking sixth place in the overall standings, behind Petronas TVS Racing team, who once again made a clean sweep of all the top five places. Sarath, the 25-year talent from Mallapuram, won the Superbike Expert Class 1A beating state mate Sinan Francis (KTM 450) of Kochi by a huge margin. In fact, his big lead helped him overcome the time he lost going off-route due to a missing ‘bunting’ in the stages and a road penalty later. Still he was fastest in all the stages. “I missed the route and lost about two minutes in the Banana farms. But I am quite happy to continue my winning streak,” said the talented rider, who aims to shift to longer cross-country rallies abroad by 2024. Mithun Gopal of Thiruvananthapuram, on a Suzuki RM450, won the bronze to make the class an all-Kerala affair.

    Bengaluru’s Naresh VS conquered the Royal Enfield Class 6 astride a Himalayan. Naresh was fastest in all the six stages taking a healthy five-minute lead before his nearest rival Mahesh Kumar suffered a 1min, 40-sec road penalty. Sajeer Ismail from Ernakulam came third.

    Bengaluru’s Aishwarya Pissay, the 2019 World Cup Baja winner, took back the championship lead in the Ladies class with a facile victory. With Aishwarya missing Round 2, Fazeela of Ernakulam, took the title lead after Round 3, but today she lost over six minutes in the very first Special STage and had to be content with a fourth place. Bengaluru’s Sameera Dahiya came second on an Impulse and Deeksha Shrivasta, the reigning Sprint champion, finished third.

    Imran Pasha of Mysore won the Supersport 260cc Group B class comfortably despite easing off in the last stages where teammate Banteilang Jyrwa clocked the fastest times. However, the TVS talent and former champion did a creditable job taking the overall fifth position on his RTR200 punching above his weight to beat more powerful bikes. Mangalore’s Adnaan Ahmed who won Round 2 at home, finished third.

    Bengaluru’s Anoop Manjappa on a Stunner defeated Chalass Bose (Kottayam) despite a 1min 10sec penalty in the Supersport 130cc class. Chikkamagaluru rider Sudarshan B on a Gladiator finished third. However, Bose, the Kottayam rider, leads the table by a narrow six-points by virtue of his two wins and two second places while Anoop, has two wins and a second and could only finish fourth in Coimbatore, losing precious points.

    But Gidyun Benjamin, who clocked fastest times in all the six stages, lost to Sasi Kumar K in the Supersport 165cc Group B class due to a road penalty of 2min 50seconds. Varun Kumar came third. Sasi Kumar, breathes easy as he now tops the table with 83 points as, Francis PV, the table topper going into Round 4, had a terrible crash and suffered a leg fracture.

    Mumbai’s Russel Jossy on a KTM 390 clocked fastest times on all the stages except SS4 but his nearest rival Amog Nag lost over 4min Liaison penalty and just managed to beat veteran Venu Ramesh Kumar by about 11 seconds. Coimbatore’s Venu, a regular in the rally scene for over a decade bagged another podium and still leads the Supersport 400cc Group B championship standings going into the final two rounds. Assam’s Hansraj Saikia, who came fifth, is second behind Venu in the standings.

    Sanjay Somasekhar won the Superstock Group D upto 450cc class beating Naveen Somasekhar, also of Bengaluru while C Pradeep took the third place.

    Pinkesh Thakkar of Aprilia JB Racing topped the standings winning the Scooter class while BK Pawan won the Star of K1000 title.

    Of the 87 entries, a total of 76 bikes finished the rally while 10 “Did Not Finish” (DNF) and one rider Harish Eranty could not take the start on time.

    Provisional Results (Ro 4 K1000):

    Class 1: Superbike Pro-Expert:

    1. Rajendra RE (Petronas TVS Racing; Shimoga) RTR 450; 51:21.156;

    2. Abdul Waheed Tanveer  (Petronas TVS Racing; Bengaluru) RTR 450;  51:41.457;

    3.  R Nataraj (Petronas TVS Racing; Mysore) RTR 450;  53:00.815;

    4. Samuel Jacob (Petronas TVS Racing; Udupi) RTR 200;  53:04.462;

    5. Imran Pasha (Petronas TVS Racing – Mysore) RTR 200; 55:55:636;

    6. Sarath Mohan (Pvt- Mallapuram) Husqvarna;  57: 03.707;

    Class 1A:

    1. Sarath Mohan (Pvt- Mallapuram) Husqvarna;  57: 03.707;

    2. Sinan Francis (Pvt- Vennala/Kerala) KTM 450; 01:00:36.723;

    3. Mithun Gopal (Pvt- Trivandrum ) Suzuki RM450; 01:13:42.547;

    Class 2:

    1.  Anoop Manjappa (Pvt – Bengaluru) Stunner; 01:06:44.802; (including 1min, 10sec penalty);

    2.  Chalass K Bose (Pvt – Kottayam) Stunner; 01:07:21.388;

    2.  Sudharshan B (Pvt. Chikkamagaluru) Gladiator 01:09: 01.048; (including 1min, 20sec Penalty);

    Class 3:

    1. Sasi Kumar (Pvt -Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:00:11:700;

    2. Gidyun Benjamin (Pvt – ) 01:01:02. 528; (including 2min, 50sec penalty);  

    3.  Varun Kumar (Pvt. – Bengaluru) Impulse; 01:02:47:117;

    Class 4:

    1. Imran Pasha (Petronas TVS Racing – Mysore) RTR 200; 55:55:636;

    2. Banteilang Jerwa (TVS -Shillong) Xpulse; 57:51.299;

    3. Adnan Ahmed (Pvt -Mangaluru) Xpulse; 58:34.018; (incl. 1.30sec penalty)

    Class 5:

    1. Russel Jossy (Pvt – Mumbai) KTM390; 01:02: 06.696; (20sec penalty);

    2. Amogh Nag (Pvt – Bengaluru) KTM390; 01:07:28.620; (4min, 10sec penalty);

    3.  Venu Ramesh Kumar (Pvt – Coimbatore) KTM390; 01:07:39.403;

    Class 6:

    1. Naresh VS (Pvt – Bengaluru) Royal Enfield; 01:02:32.481;

    2. Mahesh Kumar (Pvt – Kochi) Royal Enfield; 01:09:26.454;

    3. Shajeer Ishmail (Pvt – Ernakulam) Royal Enfield; 01:10:14.099;

    Class 7:

    1. Aishwarya Pissay (Petronas TVS Racing – Bengaluru) RTR 200; 01:07:24.068;

    2. Sameera Dahiya (Pvt – Bengaluru) Xpulse; 01:24:17.364;

    3. Deeksha Srivastava (Pvt – Pune) Impulse; 01:31:13.909;

    4. Fazeela (Pvt – Ernakulam) Impulse; 01:45:09.443;

    Class 8:

    1. Pinkesh Thakkar (Aprilia JB Racing)Aprilia; 01:06:27:709;

    2.  Karthik Naidu (Petronas TVS Racing –Bengaluru) NTorq; 01:06:29:973;

    3. Subramanya T (Pvt – Bhopal) NTorq; 01:06:46:747;

    Class 9

    1. Sanjay Somashekar (Pvt – Bengaluru) Xpulse; 01:00:25:746;

    2. Naveen Somashekar (Pvt – Bengaluru) Xpulse; 01:06:14:891;

    3. C Pradeep (PRN Motorsports – Bengaluru) Xpulse; 01:06:37:032;

    Class 10: Star of K1000

    1. BK Pawan (Pvt.- Bengaluru) Xpulse;  01:03:47.017;

    2.  Gowtham Rao R (Pvt. Bengaluru) Impulse; 01:04:02.918;

    3. L Bharath (Pvt. Bengaluru) Impulse; 01:10:27.572.

  • Abdul Tanveer, Rajendra renew battles; Aishwarya, Sarath raring to go

    Abdul Tanveer, Rajendra renew battles; Aishwarya, Sarath raring to go

    Bengaluru, 12 August 2022: Defending champion Abdul Wahid Tanveer, who is leading the table will renew his battle with Petronas TVS Racing teammate Rajendra RE, in the iconic K1000 rally, the fourth round of the fmsci MRF MoGrip National Rally Championship for two-wheelers which begins at Tribal Adventure Cafe, near Devanahalli, near here on Saturday.

    With the championship throwing three different winners from the first three rounds, Tanveer has taken the Overall lead with 43 points followed by 2019 champion Rajendra on 37 points while Samuel Jacob of Mangalore, also from TVS is in third position with 33 points. Sarath Mohan is leading the Superbikes Expert class while Aishwarya Pissay, also from TVS, is way ahead in the Ladies class and is gunning for her sixth straight National title.

    Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC), with the support of sponsors MRF, have made sure that all arrangements are in place, including a technically-challenging terrain. Promoted by GodSpeed Racing, the premier two-wheeler round of the Indian Rally Nationals, has attracted 87 entries from all over the country. “KMSC is the oldest motorsports club in India hosting the Indian National Rally Championship for over 45 years and we are glad to bring back its more popular cousin, the K1000 two-wheeler National rally. All the safety protocols are in place and KMSC wishes the very best to all the riders for a safe and successful rally. We have also re-introduced the Star of Karnataka for the benefit of local riders,” said Gautham, President of KMSC.

    “Due to rains, the terrain has become more challenging and with the season at the mid-way stage the competition is at its peak and we are expecting a thrilling rally,” said 7-time National champion, Shyam Kothari of GodSpeed Racing, the Promoters.

    Petronas TVS Factory Racing team have dominated all the classes they have taken part and two of its leading lights former champion Rajendra RE of Shivamogga and defending champion Abdul Wahid Tanveer of Mysore will be the strong contenders for overall lead along with Mangaluru privateer Adnaan Ahmed. With no time to fix the fuel pumps as per new regulations, TVS opted out of the back-to-back second round in Mangaluru, which was won by Adnaan Ahmed.

    Kerala privateer Sarath Mohan has dominated the Superbikes Expert class. The Mallapuram rider who missed the last year’s title due to an injury, is back with a bang winning all the rounds. Chalass K Bose, Imran Pasha, Naresh VS, Pinkesh Thakkar and veteran Venu Ramesh are the other riders to watch in their classes.

    Sarath Mohan, who is leading the Superbikes Expert class after three rounds.

    Meanwhile, the star attraction of the event will be the only World Cup winner from India in motorsports, Aishwarya Pissay, who is on a quest for sixth consecutive National title in Ladies class. The 2019 FIM WC Bajas winner, is fresh from her exploits in Baja Aragon Spain. Talented Fazeela of Kochi, who is leading the table, will be another lady rider to watch out for.

    On Sunday, the riders will cover a total distance of 154 kms which includes six Special Stages comprising 57 kms of competitive rally distance on dirt tracks at the Tribal Adventure Cafe, near Devanahalli. The ceremonial flag-off will be on Saturday. The Championship will conclude with two back-to-back rounds in Pune and Nashik in November.

    The results are being presented Live by Zeitmesser India. Watch the race through live results here:

    MRF Mogrip fmsci National Rally Championship 2w – 2022 Round 4 – K1000 – Zeitmesser India Presents Live Results. click here.

  • Rajendra triumphs at MRF Rally of Coimbatore; TVS dominates

    Rajendra triumphs at MRF Rally of Coimbatore; TVS dominates

    Coimbatore, 17 July 2022: Former champion Rajendra RE spearheaded a stunning bounce back by Petronas TVS Racing team into strong contention with a solid overall victory even as the team made a clean sweep of the top-five positions in the MRF Rally of Coimbatore, the third round of the God Speed Racing MRF MoGrip fmsci National Rally Championship-2W 2022 organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC) here on Sunday.

    Sarath Mohan, became the top privateer, taking sixth behind the TVS riders and Aishwarya Pissay, made light of the competition with another easy victory in the Ladies Class, switching easily into local rally mode after another round of high-performance training in Europe, the second this year. Satara lass, Tanika Shanbagh, who upgraded herself to a higher class to gain experience on a super bike, rode the Husqvarna with confidence finishing overall 18 among a field of 100 bikes that took the start. While 14 failed to finish the rally, Tanika, competing on par with men, is making strides improving her timing every round.

    Winners All: Winners of different classes in the Round 3 of the MRF Rally of Coimbatore.

    Sarath Mohan bagged the sixth overall place astride a Husqvarna and won the gold in his class as he clocked the third fastest time after Rajendra and Imran Pasha, both from the stables of TVS. The talented biker puts in tremendous efforts into his preparations but was bogged down on Sunday due to clutch issues. He overcame a serious accident last year and recovered to mount his challenge once again. He is a strong contender to win his maiden National title in Class 1A, the Superbike Expert Group A category this year. “Yes, I have to get my bike set-up right. Today, I had to go only at 60 per cent of my usual self due to clutch issues. On the fourth stage I got into my own and was having fun but in no time the rally was over,” said the Kerala rider, who trains with Dakar star, Harith Noah, back home.

    Rajendra RE bounces back into contention with an easy victory at Coimbatore

    Rajendra, the Shimoga-born 2019 Overall champion, who could only get 12 points from a fourth place in Round 1, bagged full 25 points to place himself in a fighting distance with table topper and teammate Abdul Waheed Tanveer, who despite increasing the pace to win the last two stages, could only finish second in Class 1. Rajendra’s blistering pace in the first two stages, provided him a buffer of over 20 seconds. The former champion began with a bang topping SS1 in the Kethanoor farms to log a 15-sec lead that helped him finish Overall first with ease and grace.

    The Class may have only four riders, but the competition was high as all the four National champions (in different years) finished within three seconds. All four missed second round due to Team Orders, but it would not affect any of them in this class as all belong to Petronas TVS Racing, which bagged top honours with Imran Pasha, the Class V winner taking the fifth spot.

    World Cupper Aishwarya Pissay, was back in her elements posting a facile win in the Ladies class and logged 38th place in the Overall ranking for a creditable performance in Round 3, which saw a record number of over 100 bikers vying for honours.

    SuperSport 130cc Group B – Class 2

    Chalass K Bose, put his #62 Stunner on the top of the pack beating Vinoth Kumar (also on a Stunner) of Erode by a whisker and another Kerala rider has to be content with a third place astride a Gladiator. With this win, the Kottayam champ took a 13-point lead over his nearest rival Anoop Manjappa, who could finish only fourth.

    Adnan suffers loss, but keeps Overall lead

    Meanwhile, championship leader Adnan Ahmed saw former champion Imran Pasha race away to a comfortable lead. But later Imran’s TVS mate Sachin too pipped Adnan by less than two-seconds. However, Adnan’s 15 points today for his third-placed finish still keep him atop the rankings with a 5-point lead over Pasha, who has 50 points (2 wins).

    Venu Ramesh, at his best in Supersport 400cc Group B

    The story of this Coimbatore veteran is all about passion and experience. Venu Ramesh Kumar, the oldest rider in the field, continues to defy age with his commitment and dedication to fitness teaching a lesson or two to youngsters half his age. He won comfortably by a mile beating the Bengaluru duo of Amog Nag and Mohammed Zaheer to second and third places respectively. Venu, who also takes part in four-wheeler rallies, keeps himself fit taking part in competitive cycling activities.

    Naresh bags Bullet class

    Naresh VS, another rider, popular as Bruce Lee among the biking family, chalked out an easy win brushing aside the two Kerala riders, Arun Joy and Shajeer Ishmail in the Bullet class.

    Sasi Kumar, on an Impulse, bagged Class 3, the Supersport 165cc Group B while local rider Sabarish won the Superstock 450cc Group D. Vishnu Prakash, also on an Impulse won the local Class 10, a non-championship class.

    TVS continues to dominate Scooter class

    Petronas TVS Racing continues to dominate the Scooter class with Syed Asif Ali and Shamim Khan making it 1-2 for the Hosur factory team while Subramanya T finished third.

    Provisional Results (Ro 3 Cbe):

    Class 1:

    1. #5 Rajendra RE (Petronas TVS Racing; Shimoga) RTR 450; 57:59.624;

    2. #2 Abdul Waheed Tanveer  (Petronas TVS Racing; Bengaluru) RTR 450;  58:19.178;

    3. #3 Samuel Jacob (Petronas TVS Racing; Udupi) RTR 200; 1: 00:38.045;

    4. #4 R Nataraj (Petronas TVS Racing; Mysore) RTR 450; 1: 00:51.112;

    Class 10:

    1. #91 Vishnu Prakash S (Privateer – Pvt; Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:11:01.450;

    2. #99 Ricarius Venchaslaus (Pvt; Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:11:56.250;

    3. #96 Shailesh Kumar (Pvt; Coimbatore) Impulse; 01: 12:14.340; (Including 10 sec penalty)

    4. #100 Aswin JK (Pvt; Coimbatore) Xpulse; 01:13:13.370;

    5. # CV Vignesh (Pvt – Coimbatore) XPulse; 01:13:15.100; (Including 1 min penalty)

    (Legend: Pvt= Privateer; #= Bike number/ Competition Number)

    Class 1A:

    1. #6 Sarath Mohan (Pvt – Mallapuram) Husqvarna; 01: 03: 08.160;

    2. #10 Anish Shetty (PRN Motorsport – Hubbali) KTM 390; 01:03:56.013;

    3. #9 Jatin Jain (Pvt. Nagpur) KTM 450; 01:07:00.381;

    4. #7 Sinan Francis (Pvt.Vennala/Kerala) KTM 450; 01:07:09.419;

    5. #8 Tanika Shanbag (Pvt. Satara) Husqvarna;  01:08:49.726;

    Class 2:

    1. #62 Chalass K Bose (Pvt – Kottayam) Stunner; 01:14:48.638;

    2. #66 Vinoth Kumar (Pvt – Erode) Stunner; 01:14:54.987;

    3. #70 Hari Krishnan (Pvt – Kerala) Gladiator; 01:17:21.170;

    4. #63 Anoop Manjappa (Pvt – Bengaluru) Stunner; 01:24:16.627;

    5. #67 Raj Bharath (Pvt – Bengaluru) Stunner; 01:25:06.845;

    Class 3:

    1. #35 Sasi Kumar (Pvt -Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:08:29:813;

    2. #34 Francis PV (Pvt – Chikkamagaluru) Impulse; 01:08:44.737; (Including 10 sec Penalty);

    3. #45 Vikram Sekar (Pvt – Coimbatore) Impulse; 01:10:27:488;

    4. #39 Varun Kumar (Pvt. – Bengaluru) Impulse; 01:10:44:532;

    5. #43 Nirmal E Paret (Pvt – Kottayam) Impulse; 01:11:14:540;

    Class 4:

    1. #12 Imran Pasha (Petronas TVS Racing – Mysore) RTR 200; 01:01:45:030;

    2. #15 Sachin D (Petronas TVS Racing – Mysore) RTR 200; 01:03:56:323;

    3 #1 Adnan Ahmed (Pvt -Mangaluru) Xpulse; 01:03:58.053;

    4. #17 Banteilang Jerwa (Pvt -Shillong) Xpulse; 01:05:08.075;

    5. #16 Yuva Kumar (Hero MotoSports Team Rally) Xpulse; 01:05:39.889;

    Class 5:

    1. #29 Venu Ramesh Kumar (Pvt – Coimbatore) KTM390; 01:09:16.089;

    2. #30 Amogh Nag (Pvt – Bengaluru) KTM390; 01:10:21.107;

    3. #27 Mohammed Zaheer (Pvt – Bengaluru) KTM-Adv; 01:10:30.994;

    4. #28 Ashwin Anantha Raju (Pvt – Bengaluru) KTM390; 01:16:28.343;

    5. #32 Russel Jossy (Pvt – Mumbai) KTM390; 01:17:20.579;

    Class 6:

    1. #48 Naresh VS (Pvt – Bengaluru) Royal Enfield; 01:08:53.423;

    2. #49 Arun Joy (Pvt – Kerala) Royal Enfield; 01:11:24.222;

    3. #51 Shajeer Ishmail (Pvt – Ernakulam) Royal Enfield; 01:13:59.864;

    4. #52 Mahesh Kumar (Pvt – Kochi) Royal Enfield; 01:14:01.538;

    5. #50 Sreekanth Komana (Pvt – Kochi) Royal Enfield; DNF

    (Only 5 riders in this class took the start)

    Class 7:

    1. #73 Aishwarya Pissay (Petronas TVS Racing – Bengaluru) RTR 200; 01:12:23.225;

    2. #72 Fazeela (Pvt – Ernakulam) Impulse; 01:14:58.092;

    3. #75 Sameera Dahiya (Pvt – Bengaluru) Xpulse; 01:32:54.076;

    4. #74 Deeksha Srivastava (Pvt – Pune) Impulse; 01:33:41.643;

    5. #76 Jeena Joy (Pvt -Muvattupuzha) Xpulse; 01:45:32:747.

    Class 7:

    1. #60 Syed Asif Ali (Petronas TVS Racing – Bhopal) NTorq; 01:11:02:998;

    2. #55 Shamim Khan (Petronas TVS Racing – Bhopal) NTorq; 01:11:06:548;

    3. #57 Subramanya T (Pvt – Bhopal) NTorq; 01:14:02:631;

    4. #54 Goutham N (Pvt – Bengaluru) NTorq; 01:15:55:088;

    5. #61 Elango (Pvt – Erode) NTorq; 01:18:18:147;

    Class 9

    1. #77 Sabarish (Pvt – Coimbatore) Xpulse; 01:09:41:935;

    2. #78 Arun T (Pvt – Bengaluru) RTR200; 01:10:22:870;

    3. #80 Saravana Kumar (Pvt – Coimbatore) Xpulse; 01:11:48:576;

    4. #79 P Rakesh Kumar (Pvt – Coimbatore) RTR200; 01:13:18:295; (Including one minute liaison penalty);

    5. #85 Jagadeesh (Pvt – Coimbatore) Xpulse; 01:13:39:059;

  • Abdul Tanveer triumphs at Rally of Chikmagalur; Sarath Mohan tops among privateers in Overall 6th

    Abdul Tanveer triumphs at Rally of Chikmagalur; Sarath Mohan tops among privateers in Overall 6th

    By David Bodapati

    Chikkamagaluru, 15 May 2022: Defending champion Abdul Wahid Tanveer of Petronas TVS Racing team emerged victorious to open his title defence in style while three other riders, Imran Pasha, Sarath Mohan and Tanika Shanbagh hogged the limelight with stellar performance, in the first round of the MRF MoGrip fmsci National Rally Championship – 2W 2022, popularly known as INRC for 2-wheelers, held at the ‘Coffee Land’ here on Sunday.

    TVS rider Imran Pasha, astride a humble TVS Apache RTR 200, proved that the bike can roar like a tiger if the rider calls the shots. Pasha punched above his weight skilfully negotiating the tricky corners with controlled aggression, and finished a creditable fifth in the overall standings beating many other bikes in the higher classes.

    Tanveer beat his teammate Samuel Jacob by more than a minute. Samuel lost about 18 seconds in SS3 and 15 seconds in SS7, that pushed him back but he had the consolation of beating the champion today in two stages, SS2 and SS6, even if only by a small margin. The 2019 National champion Rajendra hit a tree in the very first stage and later managed to cut the deficit but missed the podium. “It is a great feeling to sit on the new bike. It is very powerful and the I am very happy with the going. I lost some time after the fall in SS3 but I will come back stronger next Sunday,” said Samuel.

    Sarath Mohan, top Privateer

    Sarath Mohan of Malappuram hogs the limelight as top Privateer taking overall fifth and first in his class. An INDIAinF1 photo

    Likewise, Sarath Mohan was the man of the moment. Riding with a mission, astride a Husqvarna FE450, he took the Overall honours as the top Privateer on Sunday. It was a stunning result for the Kerala stalwart, who overcame a life-threatening injury, suffered at the very same event last year is SS5. Last year, chasing in the shadows, he missed a hidden rock and was hurt, badly damaging his liver, just before the flying finish of  SS5 and later was forced to withdraw from the remaining rounds. He took over three months to complete the treatment and rehab and thus took the first round easy testing himself and his bike. He also won his class comfortably beating his nearest rival and state-mate Sinan Francis by nearly two minutes in the Super Bike Expert Group A Class 1A. “I had a new machine and the tyres are also new. Coming back from injury I did not want to stress myself and so managed the pace judiciously. Basically, I was testing my bike and with upgrades coming for next Sunday, I am looking forward to Mangalore. We have good competition but I am confident,” said Sarath Mohan from Mallapuram, who missed the title narrowly last year after taking three wins in the first three rounds.

    Amidst all this, there is one lady who was missing from the line-up in the Ladies class. The young lady from Satara, Tanika Shanbagh, decided to skip the ladies tag and promoted herself to Group A SuperBike Expert Class 1A, and just missed a podium but kept the ‘Women in Motorsport’ flag flying. Competing with men on equal footing, astride a Husqvarna TE350, Tanika came fourth in her class and 15th overall among 76 bikes, missing the podium by about 24.5 seconds, quite an achievement on debut in this class. A versatile rider who takes part in Supercross and Sprint Nationals, she recovered from an injury and is hoping to hone her skills abroad soon. “I am planning to take part in international rallies. So I wanted to gain some experience on the bike,” said the Satara rider.

    Tanika Shanbagh, astride a Husqvarna TE350, shows her skills racing with the big boys, in the Rally of Chikmagalur on Sunday.

    Set amidst the picturesque private coffee estates on closed dirt roads, the eight Special Stages were run on Sunday and the Service Park, on the foothills of Sahayadri mountain ranges, presented a refreshing start to the year with mist-filled mountains forming a pleasant background that was truly a “Seven-th Heaven”. Organised professionally by the Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur (MSCC) with trained marshals and experienced officials taking care of the safety aspects and running of the event, promoted by GodSpeed Racing, the two-wheeler Rally went on well without a hitch. The successful first round begins the 2w Rally Nationals, which is one of the prime competitions among the 13 fmsci Nationals for different motorsports disciplines. The calendar with nine National Championship titles at stake has six rounds and the next round is in Mangaluru on May 22.

    Of the 93 entries, 88 bikes took the start after the scrutiny, and 76 finished the course of about 56-km of Special Stages. The two physical stages were run four times each in the same direction on the dirt roads amidst the coffee estates of Vasanthacool and Thippanahalli. The Prize Distribution (PD) was held at around 6.45 pm as it took time to add the road penalties, which did not affect any of the top rankings.

    Coming back to Sunday’s action in other classes, Kottayam’s Chalass K Bose had a facile win in Class 2 Super Sport 130 Group B beating Bengaluru’s Anoop Manjappa by 1min 44 seconds. Local rider Dilip Raj managed to finish the rally and completed the podium in third while three other riders in the class suffered DNF (Did not finish).

    Shamim Khan of Petronas TVS Racing team, wins Scooter class on Sunday.

    Another local rider Francis PV won the Super Sport 165cc Group B ahead of Sasi Kumar of Coimbatore and Shabuddin Sayad of Goa. In the Super Sport upto 260cc  class, Sachin D came second in the class and seventh overall. Adnaan Ahmed of Mangaluru was third in the class and 9th overall.

    The current champion in Super Sport upto 550cc class, Mohammed Zaheer who shifted to upto 400cc class won the class astride a KTM Adventure and stalwart of 2-wheeler rallying Venu Ramesh Kumar achieved one more podium in his chequered career. The experienced rider, who is an epitome of fitness logged in more points than Vinit Sharma, whose road penalty pushed him down to third. Another experienced rider Naresh VS won his class on a Royal Enfield Himalayan. Two Kochi riders Arun Joy and Jeemon Anthony finished in that order behind him.

    The only World champion in Indian motorsports, Aishwarya Pissay, astride a brand new RTR 200 began her quest for sixth consecutive National Rally title on a winning note as she faced no challenge from the seven other ladies, among whom Apoorva of Mangaluru proved the best among the rest with talented Fazeela from Ernakulam taking third. Both of them are on a Hero Impulse.

    The Service Park at 7 Heaven Resort in Chikkamagaluru for Round1 2022.

    While Aishwarya’s win is taken for granted, second-placed Apoorva, 25 years, was thrilled with her ride and the podium. “I first took part in Sprint, which is a miniature version of the Rally. National Rally is a completely different experience. In 2019, I made my motorsports debut in Sprint Nationals. It went pretty well and I got trophies home in all the rounds. Due to COVID and lack of enough funds I took a break for two years, and stepped up into INRC exactly six months back in Round 3 at Puttur and it was a deadly round. But I managed to finish and was placed 4th in the ladies category. Later, I got a third place in both the rounds I took part. I worked extremely hard for three months, to get my bike fixed and here I am taking a 2nd place. I am so happy and hope to do much better in the coming round.” Apoorva, a mechanical engineer supported by Motul, was on a Hero Impulse tuned by Yogish of Team KAT Racing.

    Defending champion Karthik Naidu of TVS crashed out, but Shamim Khan, the new TVS recruit kept the TVS record intact in the Scooter class riding a TVS NTorq and Bengaluru’s experienced Subrahmanya took the second ahead of Pinkesh Thakkar from Bhopal, who put Aprilia on the podium.

    Round 1 Results (Provisional):

    Class 1: Super Bike Pro-Expert Group A:

    1.Abdul Waheed Tanveer, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 450) 00:53:43.222;

    2. Samuel Jacob, Udupi (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 450) 00:54:44.301;

    3. R Nataraj, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 450) 00:55: 10.124;

    4. Rajendra RE, Shivamogga (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 450) 00:55:58.757;

    5. Yuva Kumar, Bengaluru (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 00: 59:41.569.

    Class 1A: Super Bike Expert Group A:

    1. Sarath Mohan, Mallapuram (Privateer – Husqvarna FE450) 00:59:02.054;

    2. Francis Sinan, Kochi (Pvt. – KTM 450EXCF) 1:00:56.457;

    3. Asad Khan, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. – TVS Apache RTR 180) 01:02:39.042;

    4. Tanika Shanbagh, Satara, (Pvt. – Husqvarna TE 350) 01:03:03.558;

    5. Jatin Jain, Nagpur, (Pvt. – KTM 450EXCF) 1:03:41.640;

    6. T Vijay Kumar, Bengaluru (Pvt. – Yamaha WR250) 1:11:44.321.

    Class 2: Super Sport 130 Group B:

    1. Chalass K Bose, Kottayam, (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:07:46.442;

    2. Anoop Manjappa, Bengaluru (Pvt. Honda Stunner) 01:09:30.363;

    3. Dilip Raj, Chikkamagaluru (Honda 130) 01:13:03.470;

    (Vinoth Kumar, Raj Baharath DNF in SS1; Hemanth Gowda DNF in SS4).

    Class 3: Super Sport 165 Group B:

    1. Francis PV, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:02:56.041;

    2. Sasi Kumar K, Coimbatore (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:03:13.749;

    3. Shabuddin Sayed, Goa (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:05:48.865;

    4. Goutham Rao, Bengaluru, (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:06:38.803;

    5. Akhil Joy, Kochi (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:06:57.347;

    (15 out of 17 riders finished the rally; Varun Kumar DNF in SS7; Rakesh Kumar DNF in SS6).

    Class 4: Super Sport 260 Group B:

    1. Imran Pasha, Mysore (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 200) 00:57:01.920;

    2.  Sachin D, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 200) 00:59:20.859;

    3. Adnaan Ahamed, Mangaluru (Pvt. -Hero Xpulse) 01:00:07.333;

    4. Karan Kumar M, Coimbatore (Pvt. – Hero Xpulse) 01:00:10.553;

    5. Sathyaraj Arumugam, Bengaluru (Hero MotoSport – Hero Xpulse) 01:01:37.069.

    (All 13 riders in class 4 completed the Rally)

    Class 5: Super Sport 400 Group B:

    1. Mohammed Zaheer, Bengaluru (Pvt. KTM Adventure) 01:04:32.605;

    2. Venu Ramesh Kumar, Coimbatore (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:07:19.650;

    3. Vinit Sharma, Indore (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:07:23.407 (including 1:10sec Road Penalty);

    4. Hansraj Saikia, Guwahati (Pvt. KTM Duke) 01:08:17.727;

    5. Ashwin Ananta Raju, Bengaluru (Pvt. KTM Duke 390) 01:08:24.593 (including 1 min Road Penalty).

    (six of seven riders finished Class 5; Defending champion Sajeesh Reghunathan did not take part)

    Class 6: Super Sport 550 Group B:

    1. Naresh VS, Bengaluru (Pvt. Royal Enfield Himalayan) 01:04:24.549;

    2. Arun Joy, Kochi (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01:04:42.497;

    3. Jeemon Anthony, Kochi (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01: 05: 53.568;

    4. Sharath Kumar Sathyanarayan, Bengaluru (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01: 06: 05.058;

    5. Abhijeet Sarkar, Bengaluru (Pvt. RE Himalayan) 01:15:17.745;

    6. Vijay Kumar M, Chikkamagaluru (Pvt. RE Bullet) 01:20:04.794.

    (All six finished the rally; Defending champ Mohammed Zaheer shifted to Class 5)

    Class 7: Ladies Class Group B:

    1. Aishwarya Pissay, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – Apache RTR 200) 01:07:23.684;

    2. Apoorva B, Mangaluru (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:14:04.632;

    3. Fazeela U, Ernakulam (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:14:22.040;

    4. Ryhana Bee, Chennai (Pvt. Hero Impulse) 01:14:28.240;

    5. Sameera Dahiya, Bengaluru (Pvt. Hero Xpulse 200) 01:26:07.110;

    (Seven ladies out of eight completed the rally; Jeena Joy DNF in SS1; Tanika took part in Class 1A)

    Class 8: S0 to S3 Scooter 210cc Group B:

    1. Shamim Khan, Bengaluru (Petronas TVS Racing – TVS NTorq) 01:05:45.013;

    2. Subramanya T, Bengaluru (Pvt. – TVS NTorq) 01:07:18.269;

    3. Pinkesh Thakkar, Bhopal, (Aprilia JB Racing -Aprilia SR150) 01: 07:46.080;

    4. Goutham N, Bengaluru (Pvt. – TVS NTorq) 01:11:25.922;

    5. Venkatesh Shetty, Mumbai (Pvt. – Aprilia SR150) 01: 13:07.809.

    (Six out of 10 riders completed the rally; Defending champ Karthik Naidu and Ninganna M DNF in SS1; Elango pulled out SS7 and Asif Sayed Ali DNF in SS8)

    Disclosure: This motorsports reporter, David Bodapati, has been provided accommodation by the organisers, the Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur.

    The comments about the organisation are personal but based on different indicators developed by Motorsports Journalists Federation of India for assessing organisational capacity like basic amenities for riders, trained marshals and experience of officials, timing equipment and management, safety measures, etc.

    Edited on 18May2022 correcting the Overall placing in the headline.