Chennai, Sep 29 (Motor Sports News) Battles for the titles are likely to be closely fought in the fifth and final round of the MRF MMSC-FMSCI National Motorcycle Championship to be held at the Madras International Circuit here over the weekend.

The focus would be on the two premier categories, Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open and Pro-Stock 165cc Open where the race for championships could go down to the wire, going by the extremely close races this season.

Veteran Rajini Krishnan (RACR Castrol Power1), in sight of his 11th National title, has 161 points in the kitty going into the Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open double-header that offers a maximum of 50 points. Behind him are Petronas TVS Racing’s KY Ahamed (126) and Deepak Ravikumar (125). Rajini needs 16 more points this weekend to seal the title.

It is a three-way battle in the Pro-Stock 165cc category involving Pacer Yamaha’s Mathana Kumar (126 points), Rajiv Sethu of Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing (109) and Prabhu Arunagiri (Pacer Yamaha, 104) ahead of the two races.

While Sethu is 17 points behind Mathana Kumar, his teammate Senthil Kumar is currently placed 11th with 38 points. ASK Honda Racing team’s Abhishek V has 40 points. Hubballi’s Sarvesh Balappa (Axor Sparks Racing), with five wins and a podium finish from eight races so far, has taken an unassailable 58-point lead in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category while Ann Jennifer (Alpha Racing), the 2020 champion, has a slender nine-point advantage over Mumbai’s Jagruthi Kiran Penkar (Axor Sparks Racing) in the Girls (Stock 165cc) class.

Pune youngster Sarthak Chavan enjoys a 30-point advantage in the NSF 250R class of the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup while Kolhapur’s Raheesh Mudassar Khatri is virtually assured of the crown in the Novice (CBR 150) category with eight wins from eight starts.

The Petronas TVS One-Make Championship organised by MMSC comprises four categories – Open (Apache RR 310), Rookie, Girls and Media (all RTR 200).

Hyderabad’s Rahil Pillarisetty requires only five more points from two races this weekend to clinch the title in the Open class, while Bengaluru teenager Chiranth Viswanath has effectively sealed the championship in the Rookie category having won all eight races so far, and Aditi Krishnan, also from Bengaluru, with four wins from as many outings, enjoys an unbeatable lead in the Girls class. 

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News Source : PTI