Double delight for Rajiv Sethu, Mathana Kumar, Vignesh Goud

Lani Fernandez bags top honours in Girls race

Rajiv Sethu, Mathana Kumar and Vignesh Goud notched a double apiece their respective categories as the first round, the Rolon Round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2023 concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore on June 4.

Rajiv Sethu from RACR Castrol Power 1 Ultimate, determined to resurrect a sagging career, swept the honours in the premier ProStock 301-400cc Open category while defending champion Mathana Kumar did much the same in the other top-end class, the Pro-Stock 165cc Open.

Hyderabad's 19-year-old Vignesh Goud from Race'ists Motorcycle Club was equally commanding in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category as he won both the races this weekend while Puducherry's Lani Fernandez from RACR Castrol Power 1 Ultimate took the honours in the Girls (Stock 165cc) class after starting from P5 on the grid.

301-400cc category:

Sethu, 24, who moved from Honda to Yamaha this season by joining multiple champion Rajini Krishnan's RACR Castrol Power 1 Ultimate team, immediately made his mark on debut in the by winning both the races.

Rajiv Sethu shrugged off a bad start when he missed a gear in race1, as the lights went off for the 10-lap race, Sethu slipped to fourth from pole position due to the mistake but quickly recovered to more than hold his own in a quality field that included Pune teenager and debutant Sarthak Chavan from Petronas TVS Racing who came in second ahead of Hyderabad's Rahil Pillarisetty from KTM Gusto Racing.

Sethu said: "It was a tough race. I made a mistake at the start and missed a gear and was pushed down to fourth. But I managed to recover and hit the front. I had to keep an eye on young Sarthak Chavan who pushed me till the end."

Race 2