Honda One Make Race: Ace racers battle for top honours

Round 3 of the 2014 MMSC – FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship concluded this weekend at the Madras Motorsport Race Track at Sriperumbudur. The highlight of the race weekend was the intense battle for top position between India’s top motorcycle riders in the 250cc team event on both days of the racing weekend in the Honda One Make Championship.

After an intensely hot and muggy day during practise sessions on Friday, skies were overcast and conditions breezy at Sriperumbudur on Saturday, providing a perfect day for qualifying and Race 1. Indeed, the team 250cc open race demonstrated intense competition between India’s top racers, as well as all three leading motorsport teams – Ten10 Racing, Moto Rev India and Prolap Racing.

It was a closely fought battle with riders Sarath Kumar, Sumit Loucs Toppo and A. Prabhu fighting it out for supremacy in the first three laps, exchanging the lead several times. Eventually, it was a close nail biting win for Prolap Racing’s Sumit Loucs Toppo, finishing neck and neck ahead of A Prabhu of Moto Rev India by 0.003 seconds. And just 0.096 seconds later was India’s first MotoGP rider, Sarath Kumar of Ten10 Racing, contending with a close third place finish.

By Sunday, the heat was back at Sriperumbudur, and competition intensified. Race 2 of the CBR250 Team event was mostly a two-racer competition in the lead with Sarath Kumar and Sumit Loucs Toppo taking a significant lead ahead of the rest of the pack. Initially, Sumit maintained a lead with Sarath following his rear wheel closely through the first two laps. For a while, it seemed like Sumit would repeat his exploits from Race 1 the previous day.

Sarath however demonstrated intense determination, keeping up the pressure on Sumit through the first two laps. Taking the last corner and coming into the straight after the start line, Sarath managed to push past Sumit just ahead of the first corner on the third lap. From then on, it was a neck and neck battle for the next three laps, Sarath trying hard not to concede the lead to Sumit. In the end, Sarath took the checkered flag, beating Sumit Loucs Toppo by 0.087 seconds, both riders crossing the finish line side by side.

In the Honda – MMSC One Make Championship with the Honda CBR150 Novice Category, R Rajnikanth took top spot after a race long battle with S. Rajiv. Vimochana Gadusu finished in third place to take the final podium in Race 1. On Sunday, in the same category, Vivian Gladwin David took his second win of the day after finishing ahead of S Rajiv and Shreyas Sannake.