Harith Noah started tentatively but then overtook all after leaving it late to make it through the Joker Lane and won both the Motos in Class 1 SX1 Expert Class as TVS Racing yet again proved its mettle, in the second round of the MRF MoGrip FMSCI National Supercross Championship, at Codessia, Jenny’s Club, here on Sunday.
Riding TVS RTR250, Noah nailed both the motos beating privateer CD Jianan of Thrissur, while his teammate Rugved Barguje settled for the overall third position after finishing third and fourth in two motos respectively.
Noah collected maximum 40 points, while Jianan settled for 34 after finishing runners-up in both the motos on his Kawasaki KX250F. Barguje too was tentative at the start and having recovered from a recent fall during training the Pune rider seemed slower than usual for his caliber.
“The introduction of Joker lane has been appreciated by most of the riders. Though some lost points as they failed to take the difficult Joker lane, the concept has been well received,” said Shyam Kothari, Director of Godspeed Racing, the organisers of the championship.
Noah has returned to supercross this year after having taken two-year sabbatical and has shown results immediately.
TVS Racing rider Abdul Waheed Tanveer, who had been preparing for tougher challenges with his senior teammate Aravind KP after the Rally of Merzouga in Morocco, had to settle for overall fourth position after finishing fifth in first moto and third in second moto.
“Joker Lane did wonders and it was a successful experiment in India for the first time. It was an unknown factor that kept the riders on toes throughout the laps,” said Kothari, himself a seven-time national champion.
After the second round of this six-round championship concluded many riders expressed their wish to see such Joker Lanes in other rounds too.
“It was like going into the pits as it Formula One. Only difference was it was up to the riders to decide when to take that left and into the Joker Lane once during the total number of laps,” said Kothari.
Some left it late and took the Joker Lane just before the laps came to an end, while there were others who completely forgot to take the lane and were penalized with disqualification.
First to get hit was Novice Class rider Asaruddin of Coimbatore. He actually won the Novice Class race ahead of Mahesh VM, but he completely forgot to take Joker Lane and was disqualified. Thrissur’s Mahesh, riding Hero Impulse, took the title ahead of Kali Mohan of Dinidigul.
Asaruddin, however, redeemed himself in the Locals class and finished third behind Jagdish Kumar and Kalimohan.
Local rider Jagdish was star of the day as he won three classes on his Impulse machine.
First he won Indian Experts Class beating Bengalore’s Suhail Ahmed, then he won the Private Experts Class beating Mahesh VM before grabbing the third title by winning the Locals class.
Aadil wins Junior SX
Cochin’s Aadil Coreyya came up trumps in the Junior SX beating favourite Yuvraj KondeDeshmukh of Pune. Riding on XP 125 Puzey, Aadil aggregated 37 points from two Motos, while Yuvraj on KTM settled for 35 Bangalore’s Prajwal V on KTM 85SX finished third.
Results:
Class 1 SX1 Expert Class Group A
1. Harith Noah (TVS Racing, TVS RTR250) (20, 20) 40;
2. CD Jinan (Thrissur, KX250F) (17, 17) 34,
3. Rugved Barguje (TVS Racing, TVS RTR250) (15, 13) 28;
4. Abdul Waheed Tanveer (TVS Racing, TVS RTR 250) (11, 15) 26;
5. Adnan Ahmed (Mangalore, YZ125) (13, 11) 24
Class 2 Novice Group C Moto 1
1. Mahesh VM (Thrissur, Hero Impulse) 20
2. Kali Mohan (Dindigul, Hero Impulse) 17
3. Irfan Pasha (TVS Racing, TVS RTR) 15
4. Stephen Raj (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 13
5. Sachin D (Bangalore, Hero Impulse) 11
Class 5 Indian Experts Group C
1. Jagdeesh Kumar (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 20
2. Suhail Ahmed (Bangalore, Hero Impulse) 17
3. Mahesh VM (Thrissur, Hero Impulse) 15
4. Stephen Raj (Coimbatore, Hero Impuse) 13
5. Rajendra RE (TVS Racing, TVS RTR) 11
Class 6 Private Experts Group C
1. Jagdeesh Kumar (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 20
2. Mahesh VM (Thrissur, Hero Impulse) 17
3. Kalimohan M (Dindigul, Hero Impulse) 15
4. Vikram Sekhar (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 13
5. Stephen Raj (Coimbatore, Hero Impuse) 11
Class 7 SX2 Group A
1. Adnan Ahmed (Mangalore, YZ125) (20, 17) 37
2. Suhail Ahmed (Bangalore, KTM 350) (15, 20) 35
3. Sajith ES (Thrissur, KX250) (13, 15) 28
4. Prithvi Singh (Chandigarh, KX250F) (17, 9) 26
5. Jatin Jain (Nagpur, KTM 350) (9, 13) 22
Class 8 Junior SX Group A/B/C/D
1. Aadil Correya (Cochin, XP125) 37
2. Yuvraj Kondedeshmukh (Pune, KTM 85SX) 35
3. Prajwal V (Bangalore KTM 85SX) 30
4. Ikshan Shanbag (Satara, KTM 65SX) 22
5. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, KTM 65SX) 22
Class 4 Locals Group B
1. Jagdeesh Kumar (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 20
2. Kalimohan M (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 17
3. Asaruddin S (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 15
4. Vikram Sekhar (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 13
5. Hasim K (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 11
