Pune: Defending National Rally Champion R Natraj rode a brilliant race to win the MRF Rally of Indore beating his teammate Rajendra RE by 57 seconds in the overall category, in the second round of the MRF MoGrip FMSCI National two-wheeler rally championship here on Sunday.
Natraj rode his powerful TVS RTR 450FX bike splendidly through the course that was mix of gravel and tarmac before the stages entered quarries in the rugged terrain of Chinar Hills located on Indore bypass road.
The champion rider from Krishnagiri won two stages, the first and the third, while Rajendra bested his teammate in the second stage by 18 seconds. Natraj was the lone rider to clock stages in under 15-minute barrier--he won SS1 in 14 minute 19 seconds and the third in 14:36.
His final total was 44 minutes 18 seconds, while Rajendra took the chequered flag in 45:15 in the rally that was conducted over three stages comprising 17.11-km each.
Nataraj was lone contestant in Class 1, the topmost category; while the Class 1A saw privateer Jatin Jain from Nagpur winning on his Husqvarna FE450 ahead of Jeevan Gowthalli from Chikamagapur. Jatin clocked 51:13, while Jeevan was home in 55:48.
The Rally of Indore saw as many as 47 riders taking the start over a course of 51.33-km in three competitive stages with two service stops.
Yet again, TVS Racing proved its credentials by winning four of the five championship categories they competed in. Rajendra RE won in Class 4, while Imran Pasha triumphed in Class 3 and Aishwarya Pissay yet again won the Ladies class beating Baroda’s Gurmail Kaur.
Pinkesh wins for Pune
Pinkesh Thakkar finally struck the top spot for himself on his Aprilia SR 150 by beating TVS Racing rider Syed Asif Ali in the Scooter Class
In Class 7, Pune rider Thakkar, while now rides for Aprilia Racing, clocked 1:01:13 to win the class ahead of Zeeshan Sayed from Thane. Defending champion in the class, Syed Asif Ali, had to face mechanical issues in the final stage on his TVS Wego, but still manged to clock 1:10:43 to finish third.
Results:
Class 1 (Superbike ProExpert): 1. R Nataraj (TVS Racing, RTR 450FX) 44 min 18 sec.
Class 1A (Superbike ProExpert-A): 1. Jatin Jain (Nagpur, Husqvarna FE450) 51:13; 2. Jeevan Gowthalli (Chikamagalur, Husqvarna FE450) 55:48; 3. Vishwas SD (Bengaluru, Yamaha WR250) DQ.
Class 2 (Super Sport 130B): 1. Vignesh M (Coimbatore, Yamaha YBX) 58:55; 2. Jose Sabastian (Kochi, Gladiator) 1:00:09; 3. Vipul K Prajapati (Baroda, Gladiator) 1:00.50.
Class 3 (Super Sport 165B): 1. Imran Pasha (TVS Racing, TVS RTR 160) 47:50; 2. Sachin D (Bengaluru, Hero Impulse) 48.20; 3. Saravana Kumar (Coimbatore, Hero Impulse) 49:47.
Class 4 (Super Sport 260B): 1. Rajendra RE (TVS Racing, RTR200) 45:15; 2. Suhail Ahmed (Bengaluru,TVS RTR 200) 46:56; 3. Samuel Jacob (TVS Racing, RTR200) 49:07.
Class 5 (Super Sport 400B): 1. Venu Rameshkumar (Coimbatore, KTM Duke 390) 51:23.
Class 6 (Himalayan): 1. Vineet Sharma (Indore) 50;55; 2. Nilesh Thakare (Nashik) 57:53; 3. Santhosh Kour (Chikamagalur) 59:59.
Class 7 (Scooter): 1. Pinkesh Thakkar (Aprilia Racing, Aprilia SR150) 1:01:13; 2. Zeeshan Sayed (Thane, Aprilia SR150) 1:09:50; 3. Syed Asif Ali (TVS Racing, TVS Wego) 1:10:43.
Class 8 (Ladies): 1. Aishwarya Pissay (TVS Racing, TVS RTR 200 4V) 57:21; 2. Gurmail Kaur (Vadodara, Hero Impulse) 59:55; 3. Fazeela (Palakkad, Hero Impulse) 1:01:30.
Class 9 (Locals): 1. Narendrasingh Pawar (Hero Impulse) 51:45; 2. Muzaffar Ali (Hero Impulse) 51:53; 3. Shadab Karim Chisti (Hero Impulse) 52:38.
