Sarthak Chavan, Abdul Basim grab pole positions in National Motorcycle Racing Championship

Chennai: Two teenagers, Sarthak Chavan from Pune and Chennai collegian Abdul Basim put in sizzling laps to qualify for pole position in their respective categories as the fifth and final round of the National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2023 got underway at the Madras International Circuit, here on Friday.

The 16-year-old Sarthak, who joined the Petronas TVS Racing team this season, took pole position in the premier Pro-stock 301-400cc Open category with a best lap of one minute, 50.854 seconds.

Qualifying for P2 was championship leader, Chennai’s Rajiv Sethu who clocked a best of 01:51.076 despite nursing a healing left shoulder that was dislocated following a crash in the previous round. Completing the front row was Hyderabad’s Rahil Pillarisetty with a hot lap of 01:51.823.

Later, 17-year-old Abdul Basim of Rockers Racing team, the younger brother of KY Ahamed who last month participated in the Moto3 class of Indian MotoGP, put in a lap of 02:07.685 for his maiden pole position in the Novice (Stock 165cc) category, ahead of Vadodara’s Adit Shah (Axor Sparks Racing, 02:08.260) and Bengaluru’s Manvith Reddy K.

In the other premier category, the Pro-Stock 165cc Open, KY Ahamed (01:56.224) of Petronas TVS Racing was the quickest in the practice session, followed by team-mates Sarthak Chavan (01:57.069) and Chiranth Vishwanath (01:57.540).

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup: Championship leader in the NSF 250R category Chennai’s Kavin Quintal (01:52.262), who is gunning for his sixth win of the season, topped the timesheets in the official practice session. Another Chennai youngster Rakshith Dave was the second quickest in 01:53.367.

Petronas TVS One-Make Championship: Bengaluru teenager Chiranth Vishwanath, who has four wins from seven starts, expectedly qualified for pole position in the Open (RR 310) category, clocking a best lap of 01:54.621, followed by Coimbatore’s Senthilkumar C (01:54.848) and G Balaji (01:56.100) from Chennai.

Mumbai’s Sarah Khan, with a hot lap of 02:13.553, qualified for the pole position in the Girls category, ahead of Chennai’s Nadine Faith Balaji (02:14.714) and Pune’s Saimah Ajaz Baig (02:16.499).