Rajendra RE from Shivamogga riding for Petronas TVS Racing on a TVS RTR450 won the Rally of Nashik the final round of the MRF Mogrip FMSCI National Rally Championship held at Trimbakeswar in the outskirts of Nashik promoted by Godspeed. The 17.25km tarmac stage was run in forward direction twice, the schedule three runs were cut short due to time constraint. Four classes in this championship overall, ladies class, 130cc class and the 400cc class boiled down to the finals while the remaining classes championships were already sealed.
Overall:
The top six positions were in the Petronas TVS Racing riders kitty, Rajendra RE was the winner with a total time of 32min 19sec, he was the fastest in the first stage, as he was competing for the championship with his team mate Abdul Wahid Tanveer, midway in the very first stage Tanveer had to pull out thus making way for Rajendra there on. Rajendra had to just bring back the motorbike home as he was unchallenged there on for the title. Samuel Jacob was slower by 1min 6sec to secure second position. Imran Pasha was further slower by 5 sec but managed to hold on to podium. Banteilang Jyrwa crashed in first stage and took off with no much time wasted with 10sec difference with Samuel he missed the podium. Nataraj R and Sachin D finished in fifth and sixth position with 6sec and 17sec difference respectively.
Super Bike Pro Expert:
This class had only Petronas TVS Racing riders in fray as Rajendra RE was the winner followed by Samuel Jacob in second, while Nataraj R finished third with 21sec difference on Samuel, Abdul Wahid had to pull out midway of stage one after a crash. Rajendra managed to win the championship with a 33 points lead.
Super Bike Expert Group A:
Badal Doshi from Mumbai riding a KTM 500 EXCF was the winner with a total time of 37min 34sec. Tabish Rizvi also from Mumbai riding a EC 350F finished in second position with a difference of 3min 06sec, Yogesh Kagale from Kolhapur riding a DUKE 200 finished third with about 2min 30sec further difference. Sarath Mohan who had already sealed the championship did not participate in the final round.
Super sport 130 GroupB:
Chalass K Bose from Kottayam riding a Honda Stunner was the winner with a total time of 37min 39sec, Anoop Manjappa from Bengaluru also on a Honda Stunner finished second with a difference of 1min 58sec, Nadir Khan from Bhopal riding a Yamaha YBX was further slower by 5min 20sec to complete the podium. Gaurav Pathare from Mumbai riding a Yamaha Gladiator finished fourth. Chalass was leading the championship and was 2 points short of sealing the championship, hence he had to fight it out with the runner-up Anoop.
Super sport 165 GroupB:
Niraj Wanjale from Pune riding a Hero Impulse was the winner with a total time of 38min 14sec, followed him in second position was Muzaffar Ali from Bhopal riding a Hero Impulse with a difference of 2min 1sec, Rahul S Mokashi also from Pune riding a Hero Impulse with a further difference of 36sec finished third. Sampath Gowda C from Bengaluru riding a TVS Apache RTR finished in fourth position with a further difference of 5min 11sec. Sasi Kumar from Coimbatore was already the champion and opted out of the final round.
Super sport 260 GroupB:
Imran Pasha from Petronas TVS Racing riding a TVS RTR200 dominated the podium he was the winner with a total time of 33min 30sec, followed him in second position was Banteilang Jyrwa with a difference of 10sec, Sachin D with 23 sec difference finished third. Privateer Jeevarathinam from Bengaluru riding a TVS Apache RTR 180 crashed in the very first stage and had to pull out. Imran was the champion of the class with two rounds to spare but still participated in the final round to win the championship with over 55 points lead.
Super sport 400 GroupB:
Russell Jossy from Navi Mumbai riding a DUKE 390 was the winner with a total time of 35min 45sec and with a lead of 29sec managed to keep the Amogh Nag from Bengaluru also on a DUKE 390 in second position, Venu Ramesh Kumar from Coimbatore also on a DUKE 390 finished third with further 44sec difference. The class which began with much of spot light as Hansraj from Assam who was the championship contender had to change the bike as his vehicle had electrical issues, for this getting NOC from his fellow riders was necessary, as one of the rider was unwilling he was denied a start. Class champion Venu was at least risk from start, while Amogh and Russel had chances to destabilize the champion but fell short of 3 points.
Super sport 550 GroupB:
All the riders in the class were riding on a RE Himalayan Hitesh S Ghadge from Pune was the winner, with a difference of 1min 57sec localite Nilesh Y Thakare finished in second position and Santosh Sarkale also a localite finished third with a further difference of 13sec. Rohit Tiwari from Pune was further slower by 5min 15sec including 10sec Liaison penalties to finish in fourth position. Naresh who had sealed the championship in the previous round did not participate in the final round.
Ladies class GroupB:
Tanaya S Singh from Pune in her debut event riding a Hero Xpulse was the winner with a time of 40min 04sec, while the championship leader Aishwarya Pissay from Petronas TVS Racing riding a TVS RTR200 finished in second position with a difference of 17sec. Aishwarya was fastest in first stage by over 14sec, while in second stage she was slower by over 33sec, since championship contender Fazeela from Kerala did not participate in this round she had to just finish the rally to win the championship with a lead of 30 points, this win was for the sixth time in a row.
Scooter upto 210 GroupB:
This was the final show down for the championship between Shamim and Pinkesh, where Shamim was Successive to win, which was a long pending due. Shamim Khan from Petronas TVS Racing riding a NTORQ 124 was the fastest in both the stages and with a total time of 36min 07sec he won the class, while his teammate Syed Asif Ali finished in second position with a difference of 18sec, Pune rider Pinkesh Thakkar from JB Racing riding on a APRILIA SR 150 finished third with a further difference of 29sec. Subramanya T from JB Racing and privateer from Nashik Hiten Thakkar both riding a APRILIA SR 150 finished in fourth and fifth respectively. Venkatesh Shetty a privateer from Mumbai crashed in the first stage and discontinued due to injury. Karthik from Petronas TVS Racing also pulled out in first stage. Aakash Satpute a localite also was amongst the DNF's due to running out of fuel in the second stage.
Super stock upto 450 GroupD:
Sabarish R from Bengaluru riding a TVS RTR200 was the winner with a total time of 36min 28sec, Goutham Rao also from Bengaluru riding a TVS RTR200 finished second with a difference of 2min 15sec, Tanay S Kasera from Mumbai finished third with 45sec deficit. Abhimanyu Ray from Pune riding a Hero Xpulse was fourth.
Star of Maharashtra:
All the riders in this class were on a Hero Xpulse, Lokeash A Bhosale was the winner of the class, he managed to Keep the vetran Amarendra Sathe behind him in second position with a lead of 1min 26sec, Kaustubh Machhe completed the podium with a further difference of 6min 10sec. Shridhar Pandey, Purshottam Mate finished in fourth and fifth position respectively.