National Motorcycle Racing Championship set for grand climax

The Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship culminates this weekend with the fifth and final round here, as 100 entrants representing 19 sides will battle it out across 19 races.

The three-day event that gets underway on Friday will see races across five categories - Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open, Pro-Stock 165cc Open, Novice (Stock 165cc), Girls (Stock 165cc) and Stock 301-400cc Novice, while a maximum of 52 points will be offered.

The same will be the case in the Honda India Talent Cup and the TVS India One-Make Championship, attracting some hand-picked talented riders.

The 2024 season witnessed a standard start in June. It will be long remembered for the emergence of a new generation of talented and fearless riders.

Pune’s Sarthak Chavan, who turns 18 at the end of this month, has attracted much attention, along with 17-year-old Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru.

The duo was recruited by the TVS Racing team last season, and since then, their performance graph has been northwards. Sarthak has won seven of the eight races so far and needs only a handful of points in the final round to clinch the title in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open class.

Also, Sarthak and Chiranth remain very much in the title hunt in the Pro-Stock 165cc Open, with 10-time National champion and team-mate Jagan Kumar dominating the leaderboard with two wins and five podium finishes.

Abdul Basim, the 17-year-old from Chennai in the Rockers Racing team livery, is enjoying an unconquerable lead in the Novice (Stock 165cc) class, thanks to his seven victories in eight starts.

However, Basim’s team-mate Ryhana Bee possesses three wins over two previous rounds and has given herself a chance to recover the title, although she will have to toil for it.

Ryhana and her main rivals -- Rakshitha Dave (RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) and Jagathishree Kumaresan (One Racing) of Chennai -- have a difference of just four points heading into the final round.

Meanwhile, the title race in the Novice (Stock 301-400cc) category appears to be a straight fight between leader Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) and Raj Kumar (RDX Torque Racing). PTI AYG KH