Tanveer wins season opener, begins title-defence in style

Defending champion Abdul Wahid Tanveer from Mysuru, representing Petronas TVS Racing emerged triumphant to begin his title defence in style, in the season opener, MRF Rally of Chikmagalur, the first round of the MRF Mogrip FMSCI National Rally Championship 2022 for 2wheelers, promoted by Godspeed Racing at the foothills of Mullayanagiri ranges within Pai's and the second stage in Hirekolale and Chandrika coffee estates in Chikkamagaluru, the Coffee Hub of India.

Tanveer and his teammates, riding a TVS Apache RTR450, managed to finish in the top three. Samuel Jacob finished second with 1-min 1-sec. difference while Nataraj completed the podium with a further difference of 26 seconds. Rajendra RE one of the front runners, hit a tree and lost about 3 minutes in the second stage, and had to finish fourth. His another teammate, Imran Pasha, finished fifth making it a top-five finish for the TVS team.

In Superbike Pro-Expert class, Abdul Wahid Tanveer defeated teammate Samuel and Nataraj finished third. Rajendra RE completed in fourth position while Yuva Kumar of Hero Motosports finished fifth.

Sarath Mohan makes winning return

In the Superbike Expert class Group A, Sarath Mohan makes a winning return after a lay-off due to an injury he suffered here last year. Riding a Husqvarna 450, he topped the class by a huge distance leaving second-place statemate Sinan Francis behind by 1min 54sec. Local rider Asad Khan finished third with a further difference of 1 min 43sec.

Tanika Shanbhag from Satara, astride a Husqvarna TE350, with a further difference of 24sec missed the podium as she finished fourth. Jatin Jain from Nagpur came fifth a further 38 seconds behind.

In Supersport 130cc class Group B, Chalass K Bose from Kottayam riding a Honda Stunner managed to hold on to the top position in the class defeating Anoop Manjappa from Bengaluru, also on a Honda Stunner. Anoop was 1min 44sec in deficit while localite Dilip Raj, riding a Honda 130, finished third a further 3min 33 sec behind.