Veteran Rajini Krishnan steals spotlight in national motorcycle racing meet

Veteran racer Rajini Krishnan came up with an impressive performance to emerge winner in race two in the Pro-Stock 301-400 cc class in the MRF MMSC FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship at nearby Sriperumbudur on Saturday.

The 40-year-old Rajini, a multiple National champion previously, rolled back the years and came up with a masterly display and won. Also notching up impressive victories were Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) in the Pro-Stock 165cc race, Bengalurus Ullas Santrupt (RACR Castrol Power Racing) and Navneeth Kumar (Rulexx Rockers Racing) from Puducherry in the two Novice (Stock 165cc) category races.

Juggling racing and online exams, 19-year-old Ann Jennifer (Sparks Racing) from Chennai kept her nerve to regain the title in the Girls category with her fourth consecutive win. Ann Jennifer had previously won the title in 2018, but a couple of poor rounds cost her the championship last year.

Participating in a National championship after eight years when he was busy racing superbikes on the international circuit, Rajini, who started from P3 on the grid, overcame a quality field to win the six-lap race by the proverbial country mile.

TVS Racings Jagan Kumar was second followed by Amarnath Menon (SpeedUp Racing). With two more races to be run on Sunday, Rajini is currently sixth in the championship, trailing leader K Y Ahamed (TVS Racing) by 34 points.

Jagan had to fight hard for his win in the Pro-Stock 165cc race, being constantly harried by team-mate Ahamed as TVS Racing enjoyed another 1-2 finish with Kevin Kannan (RACR Castrol Power Racing) a distant third. Eneos Honda Erula Racing riders Rajiv Sethu and Mathana Kumar had difficulties with their bikes and pulled out of the race for safety reasons, while rookie rider Senthil Kumar was unlucky as he went off the track and was denied a podium finish.

In the first race of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup NSF 250R class, 15-year old Chennai boy Kavin Quintal outpaced competition and clocked the fastest lap time of the 2020 racing season at 1:48:693.

Bengaluru's Abhishek Vasudev, winner of all four races in the previous round last weekend, assured himself of the title in the Open category of the TVS One-Make Championship organised by MMSC with two podium finishes and a fourth place in the three races run today. Kalyan's Jagruthi Penkar took the title in the Girls category of the same championship.