Sarthak Chavan starts in last row, finishes on top for Petronas TVS Racing team

Chennai: Sarthak Chavan reached from Spain hours before the national racing championships began. On Saturday, the Chennai boy shrugged off whatever jet-lag he had to zoom to the podium at the MRF Indian National Racing Challenge 2W. What made his run even more remarkable is that he started the race in the last row of the grid in the second round of the national racing at the Madras International Circuit here on Saturday.

Sarthak, who arrived in Sriperumbudur at six in the morning on Saturday, missed Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions, but found his rhythm at the right moment to pull off a stunning win, but he acknowledged that leader Rahil Pillarisetty’s retirement at the end of the penultimate lap played a part in his victory.

In the process, Sarthak led a podium sweep for Petronas TVS Racing team as Chennai teenager Rakshith Dave finished second ahead of Bengaluru’s Chiranth Vishwanath who started last having missed the practice and qualifying sessions yesterday, due to a bout of food poisoning.

Another impressive performance came from 16-year-old Kabilesh (RACR Castrol Power1), son of former multiple National champion Rajini Krishnan, who won the Super Stock 301-400cc Open race in a dominant fashion to round off the day’s programme.

Meanwhile, former National women’s champion from Chennai Ann Jennifer (Motul Sparks Racing) also scripted a fairytale victory in the Super Stock 165cc Intermediate race which she started last on the grid after failing to set a time during qualifying this morning, following a crash.

Thiruvallur’s Mohamed Mikail (Team MRA) won the Pro-Stock 200cc Open in a tight finish, while local challenger Anandhu KK (Veedol C2 Racing) benefitted after race leader Kavicholairasan (Speed Up Racing) crashed in the Stock 301-400cc Novice race and Yashwant Verma led a 1-2 finish for Motul Sparks Racing in the Stock 165cc Novice class.

Petronas TVS Racing One-Make Championship

Hyderabad’s Rajender Beedani notched his second win in three outings in the Expert (RR 310) class holding off Bengaluru’s AS James in a close finish. Poojita Anil Kumar, the teenager from Bengaluru, also recorded her second win in as many races in the Women (Apache RTR 200) class, sparing some 29 seconds to second-placed Hannah Akkineni Joshitha from Hyderabad.

Pothu Vignesh from Mancherial took the top honours in the Rookie (Apache RTR 200) class followed by Bengaluru’s Dev Agastya.

The results (Provisional – all Six laps unless mentioned):

Super Sport 301-400cc Open (Race-1): 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, Petronas TVS Racing) (11mins, 03.311secs); 2. Rakshith Dave (Chennai, Petronas TVS Racing) (11:03.506); 3. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru, Petronas TVS Racing) (11:06.187).

Pro-Stock 200cc Open (Race-1): 1. Mohamed Mikail (Thiruvallur, Team MRA) (11:51.610); 2. Amarnath Menon K (Kozhikode, MadRabbit Racing) (11:51.831); 3. Abdul Basim RS (Chennai, Chandra LGE Racing) (11:53.924).

Super Stock 301-400cc Open (Race-1): 1. Kabilesh Rajini Krishnan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1) (11:38.273); 2. Kamal Navas (Chennai, Rockers Racing) (11:41.065); 3. Seshadri (Bengaluru, Motul Gusto Racing) (11:41.153).

Super Stock 165cc Intermediate (Race-1): 1. Ann Jennifer AS (Chennai, Motul Sparks Racing) (12:46.048); 2. D Annish Samson (Bengaluru, Motul Sparks Racing) (12:53.234); 3. Anandhu KK (Chennai, Veedol C2 Racing) (12:55.971).

Stock 301-400cc Novice (Race-1): 1. Anandhu KK (Chennai, Veedol C2 Racing) (12:15.190); 2. Rehbar Islam Baktoo (J & K, Motul Gusto Racing) (12:17.181); 3. Ashwin R (Bengaluru, Pvt.) (12:17.860).

Stock 165cc Novice (Race-1): 1. Yashwant Varma (Visakhapatnam, Motul Sparks Racing) (13:09.445); 2. Raja Sreeharsha Singamsetty (Tadipatri, Motul Sparks Racing) (13:09.792); 3. Dev Agastya (Bengaluru, Pvt.) (13:10.097).

Expert (Apache RR 310) (Race-1): 1. Rajender Beedani (Hyderabad) (11:42.499); 2. AS James (Bengaluru) (11:42.612); 3. Kamal Navas (Chennai) (11:44.190).

Women (Apache RTR 200) (5 laps): 1. Poojita Anil Kumar (Bengaluru) (11:14.009); 2. Hannah Akkineni Joshitha (Hyderabad) (11:43.872); 3. Mansi Ashok Walunj (Pune) (11:43.884).

Rookie (Apache RTR 200) (Race-1): 1. Pothu Vignesh (Mancherial) (13:13.842); 2. Dev Agastya (Bengaluru) (13:14.321); 3. Rehbar Islam Baktoo (J & K) (13:14.381). (AP Media)