INDIA in F1

Tag: Suhail Ahmed

  • Sachin double at MMSC Sprint rally; Rehana bags Ladies class

    Sachin double at MMSC Sprint rally; Rehana bags Ladies class

    Chennai, June 25, 2023: Bengaluru’s Sachin D capped himself with glory by winning titles in two categories as riders from Karnataka dominated with a haul of six in the MMSC Two-Wheeler Sprint Rally Series 2003 Powered by Vamcy Merla which concluded at the Madras International Circuit here today.

    Sachin took the honours in Group B (Up to 260cc) winning all four rounds that were held over two consecutive weekends and the Open (Up to 750cc) with two wins and as many podiums.

    The organisers, Madras Motor Sports Club, ran the event on a dirt track specially prepared for the event and measuring about six Kms. While Round 1 was held on June 17, the remaining three rounds were run on June 24-25.

    Former National racing champion Rehana Reya from Chennai, astride an Xpulse for the first time, remained unbeaten over four rounds to claim the title in the Women’s class.

    “The terrain was fast in the last round after a slushy third round and I enjoyed the dry run. It was fun to race on such a speedy terrain. MMRT looked very different for me this time as I am riding for the first time on the unique rally track and not on the Tarmac. The organisers never disappoint the riders as they provided a challenging terrain with a portion of Tarmac where I was able to gain much traction. The experience helped me to clock a better timing of 4min 57sec. I am also happy to be in the top-10 with the boys in the Overall classification,” said Rehana Reya. She also thanked Vamcy Merla and MMSC for providing a good platform for the riders to experience more seat time in the Sprint rally format.

    I put my hands on newly set up machine for this race, I never rode a Xpulse before this was a good opportunity to give it a try riding my race spec bike on this track , I felt I’m learning to improve and getting better on the bike , all thanks to my tuner VINODH and team 56 racing for good work ..
    mostly I want to thank vamcy Merla sir for giving us such a great platform for all the good riders in our motorsport community with all the trust and confidence .Iam very happy I’m able to represent VM foundation.
    Looking forward for my next race to perform better ..

    The competition in the Teenagers Class produced a nail-biting finish with Chennai’s Rakshit S Dave topping the category despite finishing fourth in the final round which his closest rival, Shreyas Hareesh (Bengaluru) won. Rakshit finished with 70 points to Shreyas’ 68.

    Chikmagaluru’s Asad Khan (Group D, up to 260cc) and Abrar Pasha from Shivamogga (Group B, up to 165cc) also won all four rounds in their respective categories to emerge champions.

    Suhail Ahmed from Bengaluru topped the Group A (up to 750cc) category winning two rounds over the weekend while Uttarkhand’s Akhand Pratap Singh pouched the title in the Group B up to 400cc class with an all-win record.

    Notching three wins in four rounds, Bengaluru’s Naresh VS bagged the series title in the Royal Enfield category.

    MMSC Vice-President Vicky Chandhok said: “MMSC is grateful to Vamcy Marla for sponsoring the event that was held over two weekends. We also thank all the competitors for their involvement.”

    The Series champions:

    Open (Up to 750cc): Sachin D (Bengaluru)

    Group A (up to 500cc): Suhail Ahmed (Bengaluru, Alisha Racing).

    Group B (up to 165cc): Abrar Pasha (Shivamogga).

    Group B (260cc):D Sachin (Bengaluru).

    Group B (400cc): Akhand Pratap Singh (Uttarkhand).

    Group D (260cc): Asad Khan (Chikmgaluru).

    Royal Enfield: Naresh VS (Bengaluru).

    Teenagers: Rakshit S Dave (Chennai).

    Women: Rehana Reya (Chennai).

  • Suhail Ahmed excels with six gold; Uday Ganguli displays glimpses of old magic

    Suhail Ahmed excels with six gold; Uday Ganguli displays glimpses of old magic

    Kolkota, 17 April 2022: Eight-time National champion Suhail Ahmed dominated the proceedings winning six out of ten gold on offer in the SR Dirt Track two-wheeler motorsports event held at Singur about 60-km from here on Sunday.

    The 34-year from Bengaluru, also became the fastest rider of the event clocking 5minutes, 08.773 seconds in the feature event, the Group B Expert 4-stroke upto 165cc class as he edged out Manmeet Singh Dhanjal who finished ahead of other senior riders Sisir Raha and veteran Uday Ganguli in that order.

    On his part, experienced Uday Ganguli, not the one to sit quiet, turned the tables in the Expert 2 stroke class and clinched the gold with a time of 5:34.823 to push aside the challenge from Sisir Raha and another national rider Barno Barman, who recently hogged limelight, beating Yuva Kumar’s time in the Sprint Nationals last year. Barman had to be content with a third place.

    Also Uday Ganguli notched up another first in his chequered career as he won the gold in the Electric Vehicle class, one of the first such events being held in the country. In the EV Group invitation class he claimed the overall honours with Dwairath Manna and Sayanthan Seth finishing second and third behind him.

    Indrasheesh Roy, a novice rider is the one who caught all the eyes with his riding skills. Amidst other podiums in higher classes, he won the Novice class defeating Hiranmoy Nandan while clocking 5min, 22.363sec. Sudeep Bhattacherjee and Rameez Mullick finished third and fourth respectively. “It is only my second time in such a thrilling event. This is dryland unused and unkempt and the organisers turned it into a beautiful dirt track and I hope this dedicated track will encourage many others to join the sport. I truly enjoyed riding here,” said Indrasheesh to a local paper.

    In the Expert Group D upto 165 class, it was Manmeeth Singh Dhanjal who claimed the gold winning by a mile ahead of Uday Ganguli in second and Indrasheesh Roy in third. Vishal Das took fourth place, still showing glimpses of his form, which used to thrill the crowds decades back.

    Provisional Results:

    Class 1: Expert M1 & M2 upto 165cc (2/4 Stroke) Group D: 1. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 5:17.665; 2. Uday Ganguli 5:26.207; 3. Indrasheesh Roy (Novice) 5:31.139; 4. Vishal Das 5:37.064.

    Class 2: Expert M1 & M2 upto 165cc (2 stroke) Group B: 1. Uday Ganguli 5:34.823; 2. Sisir Raha 5:35.603; 3. Barna Barman 5:36.455; 4. Indrasheesh Roy 5:38.619;

    Class 3: Expert M1 & M2 upto 165cc (4 stroke) Group B: 1. Suhail Ahmed 5:08.773; 2. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 5:09.057; 3. Sisir Raha 5:16.408; 4. Uday Ganguli 5:17.685.

    Class 4: Expert M3 & M4 165cc to 260cc (2/4 stroke) Group D: 1. Suhail Ahmed 5:14.708; 2. Indrasheesh Roy (novice) 5:17.310; 3. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 5:18.482; 4. Uday Ganguli 5:22.499.

    Class 5: Expert M3 & M4 165cc to 260cc (2/4 stroke) Group B: 1. Suhail Ahmed 5:10.435; 2. Sisir Raha 5:13.663; 3. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 5:15.901; 4. Subhodeep Ghosh 5:26.940.

    Class 6: Open Royal Enfield (2/4 Stroke) Group B: 1. Suhail Ahmed 5:31.014; 2. Kaustab Choudhury 5:36.480; 3. Rameez Mullick (novice) 5:54.014; 4. Koustav Kumar Kolay (novice) 6:34.386.

    Class 7: Open Scooter (2/4 stroke) Group B: 1. Suhail Ahmed 6:21.040; 2. Vishal Das 6:27.470; 3. Sumantra Aich (Novice) 6:47.960; 4. Debasish Dutta 6:50.934.

    Class 8: Novice Open (2/4 stroke) Group B: 1. Indrasheesh Roy 5:22.363; 2. Hiranmoy Nandan 5:34.936; 3. Sudeep Bhattacherjee 5:43.886; 4. Rameez Mullick 5:45.698.

    Class 9: Open Group Invitation: 1. Suhail Ahmed 7:11.544; 2. Uday Ganguli 7:14.908; 3. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 7:21.111; 4. Kaustab Choudhury 7:46.349.

    Class 10: EV Group invitation: 1. Uday Ganguli 5:32.230; 2. Dwairath Manna 5:33.256; 3. Sayantan Seth 5:58.090; 4. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 6:00.320.

  • Suhail Ahmed hogs limelight; DNF for Rajendra again: 2w K1000

    Suhail Ahmed hogs limelight; DNF for Rajendra again: 2w K1000

    By David Bodapati

    Bengaluru, 6 Dec 2020: Privateer with no sponsor, Suhail Ahmed, astride a KTM 450EXC, stunned the top guns with another good performance to take the overall lead in the championship while defending champion Rajendra RE logged another DNF in the second round of the MRF Mogrip fmsci Indian National Rally Championship for bikes where TVS Racing continued its domination in the other Group B classes in the K-1000 rally here on Sunday.

    Organised by Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC), one of the oldest active members of Federation of Motors Sports Clubs of India (fmsci), its flagship K1000 rally is promoted by God Speed Racing of Pune, the COVID19 guidelines were followed and medical partner MEDISPRO sanitised the bikes and provided safety guidance including masks and sanitisers.

    “Overall experience was great and I enjoyed this round especially with my riding and the bike on these fast and tricky stages. The Tribal Special Stage was a bit technical with a jump after a huge elevation dip and bend and some tight corners while the first physical stage, Kaadu suited me as it was fast with flowing corners. I am buoyed now and looking forward to the Coimbatore round to increase my lead,” said the Bengaluru rider, astride a KTM 450 EXC.

    Rajendra, who lost the opening round in Puttur, suffered an engine failure in SS3 after taking the initial lead in the first two Special Stages and his teammate Nataraj, who could only finish overall 8th won the Group A Superbike Pro-Expert class, which has only two bikes. “It was a bad day again. My engine gave up after I was 2km into SS 3 but I am looking forward to bouncing back as we still have 100 points to fight for in four rounds,” said the defending champion who is on a hat-trick of titles if he claims the championship this year too. The Shimoga rider who spearheads the TVS Racing campaign on an Apache RTR 200 clocked the second-fastest stage time for both Tribal SS (8: 58.722) and Kaadu SS (7:47.160). Through the six stages in the day no one beat his times except Suhail who clocked 8:55.906 in SS1 and went on to perform better and better. He rode the same stage in 8:46.078 (SS3) and 8:42.714 (SS5) as they were run alternately. For the Kaadu Stage, he clocked 7min 46.341sec in the first run (SS2) and dipped it to 7:41.902 in SS4, the second run and eased off in the final SS6 timing 7:51.851 for a comfortable victory as he becomes K1000 Overall Champion, a credit many riders crave for and joins the Hall of Fame with the likes of multiple-champion and legends like Jagat Nanjappa and CK Chinnappa. Suhail Ahmed is the defending champion in Class 6 for SuperSport 55cc.

    Arun T, who won the Class 3, in action, on Sunday – K1000 2w INRC

    Suhail, the fastest rider of the day apart from Overall honours, also bagged his class Group A Superbike Expert class. TVS Racing redeemed their pride bagging three of the eight classes in Group B with Baja World Cupper Aishwarya Pissay and Syed Asif Ali continuing their domination in the Ladies class and Scooter class respectively. Sachin D, another professional rider with TVS Racing, delivered another well-deserved win in SuperSport 260cc class.

    Varun Kumar A who won Class 2 in K1000, the Round 2 of INRC for 2w at Tribal Adventure Cafef on Sunday. Photo by David Bodapati

    But it was Star of Karnataka rider Stephen Roy, the unsung hero on Sunday, as he beat many a stalwart taking 10th overall. Varun Kumar, Arun T, Sajeesh Reghunathan and Naresh VS were the winners in other Group B classes.

    Naresh VS, known as Bruce Lee, among the fraternity, astride the solid-looking Himalayan also clocked cautious times in the first two stages on the first run and then switched up gears to deliver knock-out speeds before relaxing for a facile win with almost a two-minute lead, which may translate into more than 2km lead. “I am on a high and the feeling is definitely great for two reasons: I am participating after a gap of a year in any event, rally or race. Secondly, in my 10-year riding career, I am riding the Bullet Himalayan for the first time. And finishing first in both the rounds makes me very happy and leading the INRC championship in this class with an overall 11th position is a bonus. I am working hard to continue the same pace and look forward to clocking better times in the rounds to come,” quipped Naresh, the Lee, who is on a Himalyan high, after two wins.

    Of the 70 entries received, 68 bikes started the rally and 3 were disqualified while 13 failed to finish the 48.48 km Special Stage distance which included two Stages that were run thrice each.

    Naresh VS aka Bruce Lee winning Class 6 in the INRC Round 2, K1000 on Sunday. A David photo

    Provisional Final Results (Round 2 – 6 Special Stages)

    (Privateer if team is not mentioned; Karnataka if State not mentioned)

    Overall: 1. Suhail Ahmed (Bengaluru) (Privateer) (KTM 450EXC) (49 minutes, 44.598 seconds); 2. Sachin D (Bengaluru) (TVS Racing) (Apache RTR 200 4v(49:51.536); 3. Samuel Shajan Jacob (Mangalore) (TVS Racing) (Apache RTR 200 4v) (51:12.785).

    Group A:

    Class 1: Superbike Pro-Expert: 1. Nataraj R (Kanakapura, Bengaluru) (TVS Racing) (Apache RTR200) (52:50.844); 2. Rajendra RE (Shimoga)(TVS Racing) (Apache RTR200) (DNF in SS3);

    Class 1A: Superbike Expert: 1.  Suhail Ahmed (Bengaluru) (Privateer) (KTM 450EXC) (49:44.598); 2. Sharath Mohan (Malappuram, Kerala) (Suzuki RMX 450Z) (52:01.686); 3. Asad Khan (Chikkamagalur) (Suzuki RMX 450Z) (52:21.017).

    Group B:

    Class 2: Super Sport upto 130cc: 1. Varun Kumar A (Bengaluru) (Yamaha YBX) (58:50.342); 2. Nithesh G Poojary (Mangalore) (Honda CBF Stunner) (1:00:21.715); 3. Rakesh Kumar V (Bengaluru) (Yamaha YBX)  (01:01:06.161).

    Class 3: Super Sport 165cc: 1. Arun T (Hassan) (Hero Impulse) (54:48.775); 2. Francis PV (Chikkamagaluru) (Hero Impulse) (55:29.837); 3. Ahmed Abrar (Mysuru) (Hero) (56:01.513).

    Class 4: Super Sport 260cc: 1.Sachin D (Bengaluru) (TVS Racing) (Apache RTR 200 4v) (49:51.536); 2. Samuel Shajan Jacob (Mangaluru) (TVS Racing) (Apache RTR 200 4v) (51:12.785); 3. Yuva Kumar (Bengaluru) (Hero MotoSports) (Hero Xpulse) (52:22.727)

    Class 5: Super Sport 400cc: 1. Sajeesh Reghunathan (Bengaluru) (KTM Duke) (56:52.044); 2. Harish S (Bengaluru) (KTM Duke 390) (58:08.696); 3. Karthikeyan D (Coimbatore, TN) (KTM Duke 390) (1:02:16.020).

    Class 6: Super Sport 550cc: 1. Naresh VS (Bengaluru) (Himalayan) (54:30.919); 2. Sharath Kumar (Bengaluru) (Bullet) (56:29.533); 3. Arun Joy M (Ernakulam, Kerala) (Himalayan) (57:26.009).

    Class 7: S0 to S3 Scooter 210cc: 1. Syed Asif Ali (Bhopal, MP) (TVS Racing) (NTorq125) (57:43.255); 2. Karthik N (Bengaluru) (Privateer) (Bike: TVS) (57:57.044); 3. Shamin Islam Khan (Nashik, Maharashtra) (TVS Racing) (NTorq125) (58:21.325).

    Class 8: Ladies Class: 1. Aishwarya Pissay M (Bengaluru) (TVS Racing) (Apache RTR 200 4v) (59:20.729); 2. Tanika Shanbag (Satara, Maharashtra) (Hero Impulse) (1:00:12.227); 3. A Ryhana Bee (Chennai) (Hero Impulse) (1:09:23.693).

    Star of Kanataka: 1. Stephen Roy (??) (Hero Xpulse 200) (54:21.090); 2. Dhanush P (Kodagu, Karnataka) (Hero Xpulse) (59:23.719); 3. Syed Thowhid (??) (Hero Xpulse) (1:03:53.947).

    (Editor’s note: Revised results and report edited on 8Dec2020. Riders who want to the contact INDIAinF1 can reach us through WhatsApp on 98455 69496 for editing factual errors. Thanks)