INMRC 2018 Round 3: Honda’s Sarath Kumar Makes A Comeback

Speaking of shiny things, lucky for us, it was sunny through and through in Sriperumbudur, Chennai, with just a hint of drizzle over the weekend. Perfect for two days of action-packed racing, right? Let's find out.

 Super-Stock 165cc

Riding on last round's impressive performance, all eye were on the Honda duo - Rajiv Sethu and Sarath Kumar - in the Pro-Stock 165cc category. Sadly, the first race of the day saw three of eight riders crash-out early on in the race, including Rajiv Sethu, who suffered a fall in the first lap and retired from the race with a minor injury on his knee. Meanwhile, Sarath's souped-up CBR 150R ran into mechanical issues and had to be taken to the pits prematurely.

Honda’s loss was TVS Racing’s gain as their riders, Jagan Kumar and K Y Ahamed, put on an impressive display throughout the six-lap race to claim the top two steps on the podium. Both came extremely close to grabbing the top step of the podium, almost interchanging positions at every corner and apex. But it was meant to be Jagan’s day, with K Y Ahmed finishing the race just a few seconds behind. With two of Honda’s star rider out, it was upto S Mathana to claim a place on the podium for some valuable points. And he delivered with a third place finish. 

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The start of the second day saw Sarath Kumar cut through three riders to be right on the heels of Jagan Kumar. But the TVS rider wasn't going to give up without a fight. The two interchanged positions throughout most of the race, until the fourth lap when Sarath ran wide, which led to Jagan grabbing the lead and claim victory. Sarath Kumar followed in second place, while TVS’ K Y Ahmad finished third. Sadly, Honda’s S Mathana, who put on an impressive show the previous day, was forced to bow out of the race due to an unfortunate crash.

Pro-Stock 165cc

It wasn't a very good day for last round's winner, Anish Shetty of (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing). Mechanical issues forced Anish to start from the pit. By then, his opponent was already on the first corner, with fellow teammate Mithun Kumar leading the charge. Despite the shortcoming, Anish managed to overtake the two riders during the six-lap race. But as we said earlier, it just wasn't meant to be. With only a couple of laps to spare, Anish lost his lead and had to settle for last place (14th).

Meanwhile, Mithun Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing), who started from pole, maintained a healthy lead throughout the race. He crossed the chequered flag a full second faster than the runner-up, Naresh Babu of RACR Racing, while TVS Racing's Sivanesan finished third.

The second day was no different for Honda Ten10 Racing. Continuing his run of form from the previous day, Mithun Kumar lead the charge throughout six laps to finish first. Rockers Racing's Kevin Kannan clinched second position and was closely followed by Senthil Kumar.

CBR 150R Talent Cup

Not surprisingly, all eyes were on local boy Mohamed Mikail after his blitzkrieg performance in the last round, and boy did he come through! Despite a bad pit lane start, Mikail overtook Kartik V Habib and Anandhu K K within the first lap, while smashing his own fastest lap time record with a new timing of 2:07.435 to grab his fourth victory of the season. Meanwhile, Kartik and Anandhu kept battling each other until the very last lap of the race only to see the latter emerge victorious. Kartik had to settle for third place on the podium.

The second race felt like a replay of the first as Mikail had a bad start yet again. However, he managed to cut through the pack yet again to emerge victorious, while Anandhu followed in second place. This time, however, it was Charan T who came in third to grab his debut podium finish.