Honda Secures 7 Podiums At The 2017 Indian National Motorcycle Championship

The 2017 Indian National Motorcycle Championship’s first round was conducted at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore under the governance of Federation of Motor Sports Club of India (FMSCI) this weekend. The races were held in different categories depending upon the engine capacity of the motorcycle, the organizing body and the type of modifications made on the motorcycle. It was split into two major classes – National Championship and Honda One Make Championship.  

The National Championship was divided in two segments – the supersport 165cc class and pro-stock 165cc class. Two races were conducted in both the segments. Supersports is a segment where the bikes are heavily modified and many world-class performance components are used to make them quicker, faster, lightweight and light-footed. Pro-stock bikes, on the other hand, are slightly tamer on the track as there are some restrictions towards the modification of these bikes and only locally sourced performance parts can be used compared to the supersports bikes.

In the supersport category, race 1 finished with the 1st and 2nd position riders separated by milliseconds. Rajiv S secured first position with a total lap time of 07:53:41, with Mathan Kumar trailing at 07:53:94. Both the Honda riders continued their successful reign in race 2 with Rajiv and Mathana securing first and second position respectively. In the pro-stock category, race 1 concluded with Mithun Kumar and B Aravind securing 1st and 2nd positions, clocking lap times of 20:07:186 and 20:09:278 respectively. Race 2 was again dominated by Mithun securing 1st position with a total lap time of 08:17:120, and Soorya P M securing second position with total lap time of 08:19:870.

The Honda One Make series was divided into CBR250R open championship, CBR 150R novice championship and Honda all-ladies race. Rajiv S, who also participated in this race along with the above mentioned national races, secured 1st position in race 1 and race 2 while the second position was secured by Amit Richard Topno and Abhishek V in race 1 and race 2 respectively. The CBR 150R race saw the most number of participants racing on the track. With 40 competitors racing, pole position was secured by Satya Narayana in race 1 and race 2. The second position was secured by Syed Nawas and Amala Jerald in race 1 and race 2 respectively.

An all-girls race was also conducted by Honda in which 8 woman riders competed with the race-pepped CBR 150R motorcycles. Rehana Reya was the quickest rider on the track and completed the race in 1st position while Shruthi N came in second. It was a good sight to see the girls competing on the track and Honda does have a big hand in nurturing their talent.  

Congratulating the winners, Mr Prabhu Nagaraj, Vice President, Customer Service - Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, said, “What an epic start to the 10th year of Honda’s motorsports in India! Backed by the phenomenal performance of our young riders, Honda is leading the tally at the start of 2017 season. My heartiest congratulations to Rajiv, Mathana, Mithun and Aravind for their podium wins. 2017 season will witness intense racing action. The international learning’s of Honda riders gained through Asia Road Racing Championship is giving them an edge. We at Honda are confident of more such stellar performances throughout this racing season."