Chennai, June 7 (UNI) Two teenage sensations, Sarthak Chavan from Pune and Bengaluru’s Savion Sabu lit up the first round of the MRF MMSC-FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2025 with brilliant wins in the two premier Pro-Stock categories, the 301-400cc Open and 165-200cc Open, respectively, at the Madras International Circuit here on Saturday.
Sarthak Chavan, the Petronas TVS Racing team spearhead, kept his nerve to win a close Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open race in a near-photo finish.
The 18-year-old Sarthak, the defending champion, got past pole-sitter from Hyderabad Rahil Pillarisetty (RACR Castrol Power1) with a brilliant pass at Turn 11 on the last lap after trailing him throughout the six-lap race, the margin of victory being two-hundredth of a second. A creditable third was Chennai’s Alwin Sundar who thus marked his debut race for Petronas TVS Racing team with a podium finish.
Sabu, the 17-year-old Bengalurean having started from pole position, made it a lights-to-flag win in the Pro-Stock 165-200cc Open class race which underlined his maturity and a rare ability to absorb pressure as he held off experienced Chennai rivals, Soorya PM (Chandra LGE Racing) and Mohan Babu (Rockers Racing).
The day’s other winners in their respective categories of the National Championship races were Chennai’s Ann Jennifer (Motul Sparks Racing), Rajender Beedani (MAI Racing) from Hyderabad, and Varun Patil (Mad Rabbit Racing), from Bengaluru.
Ann Jennifer, seeking her third National title after last winning it in 2020, won untroubled the Girls (Stock 165cc) race after starting from pole position which she had secured earlier this morning.
Two other Chennai riders completed the podium with reigning National champion Jagathishree Kumaresan (One Racing) in P2 and teenager Rakshitha Dave (RACR Castrol Power1) in P3.
Earlier, 21-year-old Rajender Beedani played a waiting game to win the Stock 165cc (Novice) Race in a close finish, ahead of Tirupati’s Kedarnadh (Motul Gusto Racing) and Visakhapatnam’s Yashwant Varma (Motul Sparks Racing).
Starting from P2 on the grid, Beedani opted to stay just behind the front-runners, biding his time. Pole-sitter Lal Nansunga, who led initially, lost track position as the engine switched off and by the time he could restart, he dropped down the grid and finished in P10. Up ahead, Beedani made his move on Kedarnadh in the last lap and took the lead which he maintained to the chequered flag.
Varun Patil converted a P3 start into a victory in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) race that boasted of a 32-rider grid after some of the front-runners dropped out of contention. Another Bengalurean, Jagadeesh Nagaraj (Motul Sparks Racing) came in second, ahead of Chennai’s Kamal Nivas (Rockers Racing).
