CHENNAI — Veteran Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing), the “King of 165”, bid adieu to his illustrious racing career after clinching his 11th national title to provide an emotional finish to the fifth and final round of the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2024 at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday
Joining him on the National Championship rostrum were Sarthak Chavan (Pune, TVS Racing) in Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open; Abdul Basim (Chennai, Rockers Racing), Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai, One Racing), an archaeologist in the making, in the Girls, Stock 165cc, and Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) category.
Jagan, the 36-year-old from Chennai, rolled back the years with a stunning last-corner overtake while winning the concluding Pro-Stock 165cc Open race that also saw his old mates, KY Ahamed and Deepak Ravikumar following him home, leaving the two next generation riders and teammates, Sarthak Chavan and Chiranth Vishwanath to scrap for minor positions. The win, his third of the season, put him five points clear of Ahamed in the final championship standings.
“I am finished with my racing career. I have two young daughters, and they need all my attention now. I started this season with a dream of ending my career with a championship win and I am happy I was able to accomplish that. Now, it is time for the new generation, Sarthak and Chiranth, to step up,” said Jagan, who won the first of his 11 national titles in 2009.
Meanwhile, Sarthak lent credence to Jagan’s words by becoming only the second rider after Rajini Krishnan (2007) to win two titles in the same season – the Pro-Stock 301-400cc and the TVS RTE Electric. “It’s been a great year for me, and I look forward to more success in the coming seasons,” said the 17-year-old from Pune, who scored an astonishing nine wins from 10 starts in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category.
Among the performances of the day was that of Chennai’s Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) who started last and finished third in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc race, behind teammates Sarthak Chavan, who thus notched his ninth win in 10 starts and Chiranth Vishwanath. Ravikumar, who missed Saturday’s race owing to the demise of his grandmother, roared through the high-quality grid for a well-deserved podium finish.
Jagathishree (One Racing), the 20-year-old from Chennai who has chosen archaeology as a profession, and who scored a fortuitous win on Saturday after two title contenders, Ryhana Bee and Rakshitha Dave crashed. She too suffered a similar fate in Race-2 but picked herself up to complete the race in sixth place and picked up 10 points that fetched her the championship.
In front of her, Chennai school girl Rakshitha Dave (Castrol Power1 Ultimate) won the race untroubled with Bengaluru’s Shuria SP (One Racing) and Aisvariya V (One Racing) from Coimbatore finishing second and third, respectively. Ryhana Bee, nursing a wrist injury from yesterday’s crash, did not start the race. Jagathishree copped a INR 2,000 fine for crossing the chequered flag twice but retained her sixth spot which helped her win the title.
Mysuru’s Tasmai Cariappa (Motul Sparks Racing) won his second race of the season in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category after a tough fight. The result put him in second spot on the leaderboard behind Abdul Basim (Rockers Racing) who suffered a crash and finished 17th.
Later, Chennai’s 24-year-old Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan, who has roots in Kodagu, Karnataka, was content to finish third in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) race which was sufficient for him to clinch the championship in this category. Bengaluru’s 17-year-old Savion Sabu (Mad Rabbit Racing) won a close race from experienced Raj Kumar (RDX Torque Racing).
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup
Bengaluru teenager Savion Sabu finished the season in the NSF 250R category with his maiden win and occupied second in the championship behind Malappuram’s Mohsin Paramban. The eight-lap race saw Savion, studying online in 11th standard, take an early lead which he nursed to the finish while Mohsin came in second ahead of Hyderabad’s Rajender Beedani.
TVS India One-Make Championship
Senthilkumar C from Coimbatore snatched the title in the Open (Apache RR 310) category with a second-place finish in the concluding race which Chennai’s Manoj Yesuadian won. Another Chennai rider, Jayanth P took the third spot.
Bengaluru’s Harshith V Bogar took the title in the Rookie category though he finished second behind Akarsh Jangam. CS Kedarnath completed the podium.
Sarthak Chavan wrote another piece of history by becoming the first-ever Electric motorcycle racing champion as he finished unbeaten across five races in the TVS RTE Electric category.