Chennai: Young guns came to the fore and stole the limelight in the qualifying sessions as a new generation of riders sought to make their mark in the first round of the fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2024 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Friday.
Two 17-year-olds, Sarthak Chavan (Pune) and Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru), completed a 1-2 for TVS Racing in the qualifying session for the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category. The duo, the hottest two-wheeler racers in the country, finished ahead of Gusto Racing India’s Sairahil Pillarisetty from Hyderabad with just over a second separating the three front-row occupants for Saturday’s race. Sarthak clocked a blistering one minute, 51.688 seconds to pole position against Chiranth’s 01:52.581 and Sairahil’s 01:52.994.
Late in the day, Sarthak went on to cap a brilliant run as he snatched pole position in the Pro-Stock 165cc Open category to line himself for a possible double win this weekend, with a quick lap of 01:56.772. Yet again, Chiranth took P2, some 1.4 seconds behind, with the experienced Deepak Ravikumar making it a front-row sweep for TVS Racing.
“Very happy with my form this week and I hope to continue to do well in the races this weekend,” said Sarthak who has shown vast improvement since his exposure at the Asian level.
Equally impressive was another 17-year-old, Abdul Basim from Chennai in the Rockers Racing livery who took pole position in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category with Mysuru’s Tasmai Cariappa (Motul Sparks Racing) securing P2 and Abhinav G (Chandra LGE Racing) from Coimbatore taking P3.
Later, former National champion Ann Jennifer (Alpha Racing), 23, was quickest in the Girls (Stock 165cc) category qualifying session ahead of the promising 15-year-old Rakshitha Dave (RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) and Jagathishree Kumaresan (One Racing) as the three Chennai girls booked the front row.
Chennai’s Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan qualified for pole position in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) category, ahead of two Bengalureans Rohit Lad (Mad Rabbit Racing) and Lokesh V.
India Talent Cup: Mallapuram’s Mohsin Paramban, 22, put his experience to good use to snatch pole position in the NSF 250R category, edging out 15-year-old Chennai lad Rakshith S. Dave for pole position while another local contender, Shyam Sundar placed P3 after the qualifying session. Mohsin did a hot lap in 01:51.187 while Rakshith managed 01:51.218 Shyam Sundar’s best effort was a 01:71.708.
One-Make Championship: Chennai’s Manoj Yesuadian was the quickest in the Open (RR 310) class qualifying session while Senthil Kumar (Coimbatore) and Ajai Xavier M (Nagercoil) were second and third quickest.
Tirupati’s CS Kedarnath topped the qualifying session in the Rookie (Under-23) (Apache RTR 200) category with Harshith V Bogar (Bengaluru) and Saranjith KM (Thrissur) completing the front row.
The day ended with Mumbai’s Sarah Khan comfortably picking up pole position in the Girls (Apache RTR 200) class, sparing 2.4 seconds to Saimah Ajaz Baig (Pune) with Coimbatore Aisvarya V. adrift by three seconds.
Qualifying results (Top 3, best laps):
National Championship – Pro-stock 301-400cc Open: 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, TVS Racing) (01min, 51.688secs); 2. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru, TVS Racing) (01:52.581); 3. Sairahil Pillarisetty (Hyderabad, Gusto Racing India) (01:52.994).
Pro-Stock 165cc Open: 1. Sarthak Chavan (01:56.772); 2. Chiranth Vishwanath (01:58.251); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai, TVS Racing) (01:58.463).
Novice – Stock 165cc: 1. Abdul Basim S (Chennai, Rockers Racing) (02:08.076); 2. Tasmai Cariappa (Mysuru, Motul Sparks Racing) (02:09.417); 3. Abhinav G (Coimbatore, Chandra LGE Racing team) (02:10.686).
Girls (Stock 165cc): 1. Ann Jennifer AS (Chennai, Alpha Racing India) (02:10.201); 2. Rakshitha Dave (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) (02:10.381); 3. Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai, One Racing) (02: 10.799).
Novice – Stock 301-400cc: 1. Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) (02:02.320); 2. Rohit Lad (Bengaluru, Mad Rabbit Racing) (02:02.668); 3. Lokesh V (Bengaluru, Pvt) (02:03.583).
India Talent Cup (NSF 250R Open): 1. Mohsin Paramban (Mallapuram) (01:51.187); 2. Rakshith S Dave (Chennai) 01:51.218); 3. Shyam Sundar (Chennai) (01:51.708).
One-Make Championship – Open (Apache RR 310): 1. Manoj Yesuadian (Chennai) (01:56.672); 2. Senthil Kumar C (Coimbatore) (01:57.289); 3. Ajai Xavier M (Nagercoil) (01:58.785).
Rookie (Apache RTR 200): 1. CS Kedarnath (Tirupati) (02:11.108); 2. Harshith V Bogar (Bengaluru) (02:11.845); 3. Saranjith KM (Thrissur) (02:15.956).
Girls (Apache RTR 200): 1. Sarah Khan (Mumbai) (02:13.314); 2. Saimah Ajaz Baig (Pune) (02:15.771); 3. Aisvarya V (Coimbatore) (02:16.388).
(IANS)
