National motorcycle racing championships | Sarthak claims pole position

Sarthak Chavan, the 18-year-old from Pune and Petronas TVS Racing team’s spearhead, snatched the pole position, by topping the qualifying session in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open category in the fourth round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National motorcycle racing championships at the Madras International Circuit here on Friday.

Sarthak, who crashed during the morning’s practice session when he was 1.1 second off the pace, put in a near-flawless hot lap in the qualifying. He clocked 1 minute, 48.047 secs around the 3.712 km circuit to warm up for the battle ahead with championship leader from Hyderabad 27-year-old Rahil Pillarisetty (RACR Castrol Power1) who took P2 (1:48.084). Rahil leads Sarthak by nine points on the leaderboard.

The results: Qualifying: National Championship: Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open: 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, Petronas TVS Racing) (1min, 48.047secs).

Super Stock Intermediate 165cc: 1. Kamal Navas (Chennai, Rockers Racing) (2:05.168).

Stock 301-400cc (Novice): 1. Jagadeesh Nagaraj (Bengaluru, Motul Sparks Racing) (1:58.562).

Stock 165cc (Novice): 1. Rajender Beedani (Hyderabad, MAI Racing) (2:07.108)

Petronas TVS One-Make Championship: Expert (Apache RR 310): 1. Ajay Xavier (Nagercoil) (1:55.764).

Women (Apache RTR 200): 1. Elakiya Ravi (Chennai) (2:11.813).

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (CB 300F): 1. R. Solomon (Chennai) (2:05.081).