COIMBATORE:
The 2018 domestic motorsports season began for Honda 2Wheelers India riders with Senthil Kumar from Coimbatore winning the closely contested first race of IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup. The heavy rain in the morning could not spoil the spirits of our riders as the races got delayed. The fight between the two top riders kept the spectators on the edge of their seats till the chequered flag.
IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup drew registrations from all parts of the country. From the 26 registrations, 18 riders qualified for the 2018 season in the rain drenched qualifying.
The action-packed Race 1 (Round 1) saw Abhishek Vasudev take the pole ahead of Anish Shetty. Local boy Senthil Kumar climbed up from 9th on the grid to win the race with a timing of 13:14.654 minutes. Senthil posted a best lap time of 1:17.364 minute, building on the experience of international exposure in Thai Talent Cup. Anish Shetty kept the fight on till the last lap and finished 2nd, just a few thousands of a second behind Senthil. Anish finished the race in 13:14.782 minutes, with a best lap time of 1:17.654 minute.
The surprise of the day though was a power packed performance by the Sri Lankan Jaden Gunawardena. Jaden started from the penultimate position in the grid to finish the race in 3rd position with a time 13:25.373 minutes to round off the podium.
Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship
SuperSports 165 class (Race 1):
After a rain drenched morning at Kari Motor Speedway today, IDEMITSU Honda Ten10 Racing team’s Mathana Kumar took the pole position in qualifying with teammate Sarath Kumar starting 3rd. The incident marred race was cut short to just 7 laps. Honda riders Mathana Kumar finished 3rd with Sarath Kumar and Rajiv Sethu finishing 4th and 6th respectively.
Pro Stock 165 class (Race 1):
Honda riders kick-started the title defence with a win in the Pro Stock 165 class. Starting from 2nd in the grid, Anish Shetty dominated the race to finish 1st. Mithun Kumar, who had qualified on pole, and Senthil Kumar crashed out. Both the riders are uninjured.
Congratulating the winners Prabhu Nagaraj, Vice President, Brand & Communication, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Honda riders have performed very strongly today. Senthil’s experience from Thai Talent Cup saw him improve on his cornering speed which helped him win the first race of IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup. The SuperSport 165 class was very closely contested by our riders with a podium on 1st day and we are sure of bettering our position tomorrow.”
