With racing action coming to an end here at Madras Motor Race Track in Chennai, the 2021 season of the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC) and Honda India Talent Cup was filled with fun and experiencing new learnings for Honda Racing India riders across categories.
Starting the season on a high note, the experienced riders of the Honda SK69 Racing Team and millennial riders of the Honda India Talent Cup displayed exemplary performances on the racetrack.
The Honda SK69 Racing Team rounds off the ProStock 165cc class of 2021 INMRC with a total of 9 podiums. After clinching the third position in the race, Rajiv Sethu grabs the third position in the ProStock 165cc class of the national championship.
Displaying the true capabilities and power of the Moto3 machine in the Honda India Talent Cup NSF250R Open class, the 9 next-gen riders left no stone unturned in proving their mettle. Maintaining his calm throughout the season, Chennai's Kavin Quintal has taken over the championship title followed by Pune's Sarthak Chavan at second position and Valencherry's Mohsin P at third.
Whereas, 12 of the Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R Novice class riders rode on track with confidence and passion delivering some of the best races of 2021. With 158 points, Bokaro's Prakash Kamat tops the 2021 Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R Novice class. The Chennai duo of Rakshith S Dave and Theopaul Leander are placed second and third respectively on the championship tally.
Sharing his view on the 2021 season, Prabhu Nagaraj, Senior Vice President - Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said "I am happy with the commendable performance by our rider Rajiv Sethu who fought well this season and finished third in the national championship. I am further pleased to see Kavin Quintal and Prakash Kamat who showed true merit by emerging victorious in the Honda India Talent Cup - NSF 250R & CBR150R categories. We have also received a great response for our newly introduced Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race. I congratulate all riders for putting up their best efforts and we shall be back with more excitement in the 2022 season. We are definitely on the right path that we had set to develop Indian young talent for International championships"
Leading Honda's charge in final race of Pro-Stock 165cc class of national championship was the ace rider Rajiv Sethu who remained consistent with his performance from start to finish, earning a third place on the podium with a difference of just 0.79 seconds with the nearest competitor. Recording the best lap of 1:56.030 in today's race, Rajiv gave tough competition by putting up a strong fight till the end. Meanwhile, teammate Senthil Kumar closed the race in seventh place. It was an unfortunate day for Mathana Kumar who went back to the pit due to some technical glitch in his machine.
The final race saw a repeat of the show by Sarthak Chavan, Kavin Quintal and Mohsin P. Fighting for the podium win, 15-year-old Sarthak Chavan consistently maintained his pace till the chequered flag. The Pune youngster completed today's race with a total time of 14:45.513 having a large difference of 8.502 seconds over Chennai's Kavin Quintal who finished second. Valanchery's Mohsin P too showcased his full potential and confirmed 3rd place on the podium, leaving behind Geoffrey R Emmanuel at 4th and Shyam Sundar at 5th. While Samuel Martin and Deepak S could not finish the race.
The young guns of the Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R Novice category showed their strong resilience in the final races of the season. It was a double 1-2 for Chennai's Theopaul Leander and Uttur's Siddesh Sawant as they finished race 2 and race 3 of CBR150R class at first and second places respectively. Whereas the 14-year-old Raheesh Khatri got third place in race 2, Patna's Vivek Gaurav secured third place in race 3 of the category.
Round 5 of the newly introduced Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race came to an end with some exciting performances by 15 veteran riders. The final race saw a three-way fight between Kevin Kannan, Ajai Xavier and G Balaji till the last lap. Fighting fiercely for podium win, a contact between Ajai Xavier and Kevin Kannan in the last lap resulted in a crash for Kevin while Ajai Xavier went wide on the track. This made way for G Balaji who earned 1st position on the podium followed by Udayi Prakash and Shankar Guru on 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
( With inputs from ANI )
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