Mathana wins both races in Open Class

Mathana Kumar of Ten10 Racing blazed the track to score a double in the showpiece Group C (165cc) Open class to cap a fine weekend in brilliant fashion in the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Sunday.

Kumar, the 23-year old from Tiruchi and riding the Honda CBR, outclassed the field in both the races with some near- flawless riding to win from start to finish.

Also winning two races were Vishwadev Muraleedharan, a 22-year old MBA from Coimbatore in the Group D (165cc) Novice class and Abhishek Vasudev of Bengaluru, a racing instructor at the Apex Racing Academy, in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup Open category. Likewise, Kerala's Amarnath Menon won both the races in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup for Novice riders. Both Vishwadev and Abhishek faced little opposition as they opened up a gap in the very first lap of their respective races, leaving others to scrap for minor positions.

An equally impressive winner of the day was 20-year old Kannan <g data-gr-id="26">Karnan</g>, a mechanic from Chennai who fought his way to a fine win in the second race of the Group D (130cc) Novice class despite four stitches on his left palm after he crashed twice on Saturday in the first race.

Lying in the second position till the sixth lap, Kannan slipped past leader <g data-gr-id="21">Yashwin</g> Kumar and nursed the lead to the finish for a brilliant victory.

Meanwhile, Deva Umapathy, who had won the first race in the Group D (130cc) Novice class on Saturday, was disqualified for a technical infringement, thus handing victory to <g data-gr-id="23">Yashwin</g> Kumar.

The results (Provisional):

Group C (165cc) Open Race 1 (10 laps): Mathana Kumar S (Ten10 Racing) 1 (13mins, 03.708secs); Ananth Raj P (Kingdom Racing India) 2 (13:10.662); Meka Vidhuraj (United Tech Torque Racing) 3 (13:11.905). Race 2: Mathana Kumar S (Ten10 Racing) 1 (12:56.337); Meka Vidhuraj (United Tech Torque Racing) 2 (13:00.304); Anand Raj P (Kingdom Racing India) 3 (13:09.096).

Group D (165cc) Novice Race 1 (10 laps): Vishwadev Muraleedharan (Sparks Racing) 1 (13:55.536); 

Amarnath Menon K (Apex Racing Academy) 2 (13:59.159); Shankar Guru A (13:59.376) 3. Race 2: Vishwadev Muraleedharan (Sparks Racing) 1 (14:01.215); Amarnath Menon K (Apex Racing Academy) 2 (14:09.309); Mahesh Murali (14:10.727). Group D (130cc) Novice Race 1 (10 laps): Yashwin Kumar R 1 (14:45.491); Sivanesan 2 (14:53.638); Sebastian J Selvaraj 3 (14:54.101). Race 2: Kannan Karnan 1 (TVS Racing) (14:55.990); Yashwin Kumar R 2 (15:05.739); Shoban Kumar K 3 (15:17.308).

Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Open) ? Race 1 (10 laps): Abhishek Vasudev 1 (13:59.556); Ananth Raj P 2 (14:01.879); Akash Prasad Dingare 3 (14:11.106). Race 2: Abhishek Vasudev 1 (13:36.852); Mathana Kumar S 2 (14:00.416); Akash Prasad Dingare 3 (14:13.945).

Novice Race 1 (10 laps): Amarnath Menon K 1 (14:16.653); Vishwadev Muraleedharan 2 (14:18.004); Malsawmdawngliana 3 (14:22.229). Race 2: Amarnath Menon K (Kerala) 1 (14:14.499); Malsawmdawngliana (Aizwal) 2 (14:15.306); Sreejith PR (Kerala) 3 (14:20.617).