Soorya, Navneeth win motorcycle endurance title

Chennai, March 28: The Chennai-Puducherry combination of Soorya PM and Navneeth Kumar rode a smart, tactical race to win the overall title in the TVS Eurogrip MMSC Motorcycle Endurance Race 2021 at the MMRT, here on Sunday.

The pair also topped the pro-stock 301-400cc category while completing 55 laps in over two hours.

Finishing second a minute behind were pole-sitters from Hyderabad Satyanarayana Raju and Sahil Shetty though they also completed 55 laps, while the team of Abhimanyu Gautam and Anand R was third with 54 laps.

Anfal A and Subramani Gandan, completing 52 laps, won in the stock 165cc category, restricted to those under 15 years of age, while Lani Zena Fernandez and Arpitha Bhat emerged champions in the girls (TVS Apache RTR 200), completing 48 laps.

Explaining their strategy, Soorya said: "I went out first and was very mindful of the flags and the slow traffic. The idea was to put in consistent laps. After my first stint, Navneeth put in some hot laps which also helped us to finish on top."

Experienced pair of Rajini Krishnan and Sarath Kumar packed up after 39 laps. The pair led initially, but was docked a ride-through penalty after Rajini, going out first, riding for 46 minutes instead of the permitted 45. It effectively ended their challenge.

Results (Provisional):

Overall and Pro-Stock 301-400cc: 1. Soorya PM / Navneeth Kumar (55 laps, 02hrs, 00:38.471secs); 2. Satyanarayana Raju / P Sahil (55L; 02:01:29.921); 3. Abhimanyu Gautam / Anand R (54L; 02:01:22.055).

Stock 165cc: 1. Anfal A / Subramani Gandan (52L; 02:02:05.716); 2. Mohan Babu / Udayi Prakash (52L; 02:02:18.551); 3. Jagadeesh N / Allwin Xavier (51L; 02:02:29.670).

Girls (TVS Apache RTR 200) : 1. Lani Zena Fernandez / Arpitha Bhat (48L; 02:01:11.352); 2. Rakshitha Dave / Baddam Dipika (47L; 02:00:44.209); 3. Nivetha Jessica / Lakaya Lee (47L; 02:01:20.940).

Source: IANS