The opening round of the 2021 Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship kicked off last weekend that saw Honda's SK 69 racing team's Rajiv Sethu grab a double podium finish for the team. Alongside the national championship, the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup saw energetic Kavin Quintal seal the top spot in NSF250R open class, while Rakshith S Dave and Prakash Kamath scored a double 1-2 in the CBR150R Novice class. The first-ever Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race saw Chennai's Kevin Kannan lead the category while Sudheer Sudhakar finished second.
Speaking on the opening round of the 2021 INMRC, Prabhu Nagaraj, Senior Vice President, Brand & Communication, HMSI said, "IDEMITSU Honda SK 69 racing team has wrapped up the opening round with 2 podiums in PS165cc of the national championship. Rajiv Sethu's strong performance in this round confirmed his 2nd place in the championship. Parallelly, Kevin Kannan left no stone unturned in exhibiting the capabilities of the all-new Hornet 2.0 on the racetrack. Our 26 young guns had put up a wonderful show today. NSF250R rider Sarthak Chavan proved his mettle on the racetrack after an incredible jump of 10 positions in today's race. I am confident that our riders will be back with some motivation and strength to perform best to their abilities in the upcoming rounds."
In the INMRC ProStock 165 cc class, ace rider Rajiv Sethu put up an excellent performance as he tried to take the top spot from the race leader but had to settle for P2 with a gap of just 0.047s. Meanwhile, his teammate Senthil Kumar gained momentum on the final lap and crossed the finish line in fifth place. Meanwhile, defending champion Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing bagged two wins.
The top 3 riders of the weekend in the NSF 250R category - Geoffrey Emmanuel, Kavin Quintal & Varoon S
In the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R category, Chennai boys Kavin Quintal, Varoon S and Geoffrey R Emmanuel held the top spots on Saturday. The second raw on Sunday saw Kavin Quintal manage a massive lead of 9.863s, racing the Moto3 machine as he beat Pune Sarthak Chavan for the top spot. Chavan started the race from last but made a remarkable recovery to take second, followed by Bengaluru's Samuel Martin and Chennai's Geoffrey Emmanuel who took P3 and P4 respectively. Varoon S looked promising for P3 earlier but crashed out Lap 6, making way for Martin on the podium.
On the podium of the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R - Rakshith Dave, Prakash Kamath & Shubankar Joshi
In the IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R Novice category, the weekend kicked off with a maiden victory for Rakshith S Dave followed by Prakash Kamat and Theopaul Leander on the podium in Saturday's race. The 14-year-old riders put up a brilliant fight on Sunday too. Rakshith shined on the race track with a comfortable lead of 6.313 seconds. He was followed back by Prakash Kamath, while Shubankar Joshi and Theopaul Leander crashed in the last lap while competing for P3. This allowed Shyam Babu to take third on the podium.
Finishing on the podium of the Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race - Kevin Kannan, Sudheer Sudhakar, Alwin Sundar
Lastly, the inaugural round of Honda Hornet 2.0 One Make Race saw some action-packed scenes over the weekend. The first race on Saturday saw Kevin Kannan, Veera Ashwin Lal and Sudheer Sudhakar grab podium finishes. In the second race on Sunday, Alwin Sundar started fifth on the grid before moving up to P3 and had a three-way battle with Sudheer Sudhakar and Kavin Kannan. In a nail-biting finish, Kannan lapped back home just 0.010s ahead of Sudhakar, while Alwin Sundar finished in third place.
