Hero MotoSports rider Yuvakumar of Bengaluru bagged the overall honours and opened his 2021 campaign in serious style winning the fastest rider tag of Round 1 in the Motorsport Inc FMSCI Indian National Rally Sprint Championship for motorcycles for South Zone at the Moto Farm in Kanakapura near here on Saturday.
Astride a Hero Xpulse200, the three-time Desert Storm winner, who also has five National titles in two-wheeler Rally and Dirt Track, clocked the fastest time 08 min, 36 seconds for the 7.5km dash on way to gold in the Group B up to 260cc Class. “Today the track was really tough and tricky but I managed to finish first overall competing against the foreign bikes. I thank the Hero team for the well-tuned bike,” said the 34-year Bengalurean.
Sarath Mohan of Malappuram had a commanding victory in the Open Class up to 600cc but the Asura garage-supported 25-year rider missed the Overall honours by 2 seconds clocking 8min 38sec astride a Suzuki RMX 450.
Vishwas SD, Rakesh Kumar V, Naresh VS, Sudeep Kottary, Suhail Ahmed, Elango, Sanjay Somasekhar, and Sneha won their respective classes.
“The Championship began in a strict bio-bubble and a Covid officer was appointed to take care of the safety protocols and the welfare of the riders and other participants,” said Jaidas Menon of Motorsports Inc, the promoters.
Round 1 Sprint Nationals 2021 Final (provisional) results (Sat)
1. Group A Upto 600cc Class (Foreign bikes only): 1. Vishwas SD (Bengaluru) (09min, 03sec); 2. Badal Subash Doshi (Pune) (09:06); 3. Sarath Mohan (Malappuram) (09:11).
2. Group B Upto 130cc Class: 1. Rakesh Kumar V (Bengaluru) (09:35); 2. Sudeep Kottary (Mangaluru) (09:41); 3. Ajin Abraham (Kottayam) (09:48).
3. Group B 131cc to 165cc: 1. Naresh VS (Bengaluru) (08:55); 2. Pavan BK (Bengaluru) (09.10); 3. Subramanya T (Bengaluru) (09:14).
4. Group B 166cc Upto 260cc Class: 1. Yuvakumar (08:36); 2. Pavan BK (08:48); 3. Suhail Ahmed (08:49).
5. Group B 261cc to 400cc Class: 1. Sudeep Kottary (Mangalore) (09.26); 2. V Venu Rakesh Kumar (Coimbatore) KTM-90 (10:12); 3. Sajeesh Reghunathan (10:15).
6. Group D up to 260cc Class: 1. Yuvakumar (Bengaluru) (08:42); 2. Samuel Abraham (09:08); 3. Sajay Somasekhar (Bengaluru) (09:09).
7. Scooter Class: 1. Elango G (Erode) (09:50); 2. Subramanya T (09:56); 3. Karthik N (Bengaluru) (10:00).
8. Bullet Class: 1. Suhail Ahmed (Bengaluru) (09:17); 2. Naresh VS (Bengaluru) (09:18); 3. Sharath Kumar S () (09:20).
9. Open Class upto 600cc: 1. Sarath Mohan (Malappuram) (08:38); 2. Badal Subhash Doshi (Pune) (09:01); 3. Sinan Francis (Ernakulam) (09:06).
Non-Championship classes: Ladies Class: 1. Sneha (09:56).
South Zonal Star (formerly Star of Karnataka): 1. Sanjay Somashekar (Bengaluru) (09:12); 2. Karan M (10:34).