Indian National Motorcycle Racing C'ship: Rajiv Sethu ends round four with second-place finish

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 11 : The Round 4 of the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2022 concluded with the IDEMITSU Honda SK69 racing team's Rajiv Sethu once again working his magic on the Madras International Circuit. The international rider grabbed another second-place finish in Pro-Stock 165cc of the national championship over the weekend.
The action-packed performances were not only limited to the national championship. 18 of the brightest talents too fought their hardest in the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup to score top spots on the leader board. 14-year-old Raheesh Khatri emerged victorious in CBR150R category, successfully snatching his 8th consecutive win this season. On the other hand, Kavin Quintal secured another win in the 10-lap race of NSF250R category.
Satisfied with riders' performance in today's race, Prabhu Nagaraj - Operating Officer, Brand and Communication, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India said, "Two podium finishes by Rajiv Sethu was the perfect way to end the penultimate round of 2022 national championship. With this, the battle for championship titles now gets closer. Adding more cheer to the day were the spectacular performances by our young guns. Raheesh Khatri and Kavin Quintal yet again proved their mettle in the IDEMISTU Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R and NSF250R categories. Closing the round on a positive note, we are confident of our rider's abilities and look forward to coming back fully charged, eyeing on the championship victory."
Rajiv Sethu exuded confidence and today's race bore testimony to his strategic mindset. The race witnessed several head on battles to win the top spots. Starting from 2nd on the grid, the IDEMITSU Honda SK69 racing's Rajiv Sethu moved to as low as 6th place by the end of 5th lap. In a tough battle for podium contention, the ace rider found a room in the final lap and leaped ahead of his competitors from 5th place to ultimately finishing the race at second (Total time - 15:47.054). Teammate Senthil Kumar too held tight and finished at 7th, a 4-position gain from his start. Whereas Abhishek V of ASK Honda Racing team managed to finish the race at 8th.
Culminating the race today, Kavin Quintal shined again on the racetrack as he powered ahead to close the race at first place with a massive lead of over 20 seconds. The local lad finished the race with total 18:25.485 and best lap of 1:49.294. Joining him on the second was Malappuram's Mohsin P who stopped the clock at 18:46.045. With just 0.167 seconds behind, Chennai's Shyam Sundar lapped back home third.
The IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R race 1 saw fierce riding by 8 budding riders. Setting off a brilliant start, Kolhapur's Siddesh Sawant went full throttle and built pressure on the championship winner Raheesh Khatri. Riding fearlessly, Siddesh ultimately overtook him in second half of the action-packed race but. However, with experience and eagerness to claim his 8th consecutive win, Raheesh managed to outpace his competition and won the race with total time of 12:55.276. Impeccable riding by Siddesh got him second place on podium with best lap of 2:07.441. Rajender Beedani of Jangaon closed the race at the third place.
Today's Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make support race saw constant movement in places and positions between top 3 trio of Allwin Xavier, G Balaji and Romario John. It was Thrissur's Allwin Xavier who once again scored an impressive win, stopping the clock at 13:30.607. He was followed back home by Chennai's G Balaji (2nd) at 13:31.402. Joining them on 3rd is another Chennai rider Romario John who finished the race just 0.003 seconds behind Balaji. While Deepak Kumar who joined the front runners in last lap and recorded best lap of 2:12.372 but he unfortunately crashed in last couple of corners and finished the race at 10th.