Following a tight qualifying session on Saturday as the Rockstar Racing team occupied the front row for the double-header in the fourth round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT track, Chennai, Ami van Poederooijen, a Spaniard based in Auroville, Puducherry, took the pole position in the premium Super Sport Indian 300-400cc class.
Championship leader Ami, who is racing on FMSCI license, clocked a best lap of one minute, 58.156 seconds as against 01:58.605 by team-mate Abhishek Vasudev from Bengaluru and Kerala’s Amarnath Menon (01:58.685).
Meanwhile, TVS Racing’s Jagan Kumar, who heads the Super Sport Indian 165cc leaderboard, grabbed the pole position ahead of team-mate Harry Sylvester and Honda Ten10 Racing’s Mathana Kumar as the lithe rider put himself in a strong position to seal the championship tomorrow.
Ever-improving Chennai teenager Rajiv Sethu, of Honda Ten10 Racing, lying second in the championship in the Pro Stock 165cc class, comfortably took the pole position sparing over a second to Vivek Pillai while team-mate Hari Krishnan Rajagopal completed the front row.
DAY 2 :
Local boy Kannan Subramaniam led a 1-2-3 sweep of TVS Racing team by winning both the races in the Super Sport Indian 165cc class with team-mates Jagan Kumar and Harry Sylvester in toe as the curtain came down on the fourth round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the MMRT track, Sriperumbudur, near here on Sunday.
Also achieving a double were Ami van Poederooijen of Rockstar Racing team in the Super Sport Indian 300-400cc class and Rajiv Sethu (Honda Ten10 Racing) who was in fine form while topping the Pro Stock 165cc category.
Kannan, for long in the shadow of his peers Jagan and Sylvester, rode two fine races to beat his more established team-mates and record his first win of the season.
The result meant that championship leader Jagan after being placed second and third in the two races today, will have to wait until the fifth and concluding round to seal the championship.
Jagan took his tally of points to 141 while Kannan moved into second place with 114, just ahead of Sylvester (102). With a maximum of 50 points at stake in the final round to be run later this year, Jagan has one hand on the trophy.
Ami, the Auroville resident from Spain and riding on an FMSCI license, dominated the 300-400cc field in both races while his team-mates Abhishek Vasudev and Amarnath Menon came in second and third, respectively as Rockstar Racing team celebrated a clean sweep. Ami, with five wins to his credit, leads the championship with 135 points with Abhishek lying second with 115.
Joseph Mathew of Sparks Racing (111 points) and Speed Up Racing’s PM Soorya (100) won a race apiece in the Stock 165cc class to close the gap with championship leader Antony Peter (Performance Racing, 130) who hung on to his lead despite picking up only 12 points.
The other title contender Anish Shetty (United Tech Torque Racing) retained his second spot on the leaderboard with a podium finish and just six points adrift of Peter who later went on to achieve a double in the MMSC Yamaha One Make Championship (Novice).
Sparks Racing’s Joseph Mathew topped in the qualifying session in the Stock 165cc class, followed by Hubballi’s Anish Shetty (United Tech Torque) and Soorya PM of Chennai (Speed Up Racing).
The results (Provisional):
Super Sport Indian 300-400cc (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Ami van Poederooijen (Auroville, Rockstar Racing) (12mins, 05.727secs); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (Bengaluru, Rockstar Racing) (12:09.483); 3. Amarnath Menon (Kerala, Rockstar Racing) (12:15.004). Race-2: 1. Ami van Poederooijen (12mins, 00.657secs); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (12:01.035); 3. Amarnath Menon K (12:20.585).
Super Sport Indian 165cc (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Kannan Subramaniam (Chennai, TVS Racing) (12:15.265); 2. Jagan Kumar (Chennai, TVS Racing) (12:15.375); 3. Harry Sylvester (Chennai, TVS Racing) (12:15.734). Race-2: 1. Kannan Subramaniam (12:11.728); 2. Harry Sylvester (12:12.248); 3. Jagan Kumar (12:13.874).
Pro Stock 165cc: 1. Rajiv Sethu (Chennai, Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:39.084); 2. Prabhu Arunagiri (Chennai, RACR) (12:43.545); 3. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (12: 44.575). Race-2: 1. Rajiv Sethu (12:37.966); 2. Hari Krishnan (Chennai, Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:41.302); 3. Prabhu Arunagiri (12:41.604).
Stock 165cc (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Joseph Mathew (Chennai, Sparks Racing) (13:44.588); 2. Soorya PM (Chennai, Speed Up Racing) (13:44.914); 3. Amala Gerald (Chennai, Performance Racing) (13:45.417). Race-2: 1. Soorya PM (13:34.531); 2. Anish Shetty (Hubballi, United Tech Torque) (13:34.580); 3. Joseph Mathew (13:35.032).
Yamaha MMSC One Make Championship (Novice, Race-1, 4 laps): 1. Anthony Peter (Coimbatore) (09:09.295); 2. Vishal S (Chennai) (09:18.906); 3. Vipul Hadgalkar (Mumbai) (09:19.755). Race-2: 1. Anthony Peter (09:28.121); 2.Anup Kumar M (Chennai) (09:33.005); 3. Vipul Hadgalkar (Mumbai) (09:39.992).
Support Race – Superbike (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Siddhanth K (Bengaluru) (11:42.879); 2. Naresh Babu J (Chennai) (11:43.853); 3. Devaraj Durairaj (Chennai) (12:00.831). Race 2: 1. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai) (11:20.512); 2. Siddhanth K (11:40.412); 3. Naresh babu (11:44.937).
News Source : Press Release
