Chennai, Sep 12 (IANS) Shrugging off lack of sleep and jet lag following an overnight journey from Spain to Chennai, 19-year-old Sarthak Chavan from Pune still found reserves of energy and determination to win the premier Super Sport 301-400cc Open race, which he started from the last row of the grid in the second round of the Indian National Racing Challenge 2W – 2026 at the Madras International Circuit in Chennai on Saturday.

Sarthak, who arrived in Sriperumbudur at six in the morning on Saturday, missed Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions, but found his rhythm at the right moment to pull off a stunning win; he acknowledged that leader Rahil Pillarisetty’s retirement at the end of the penultimate lap played a part in his victory.

In the process, Sarthak led a podium sweep for the Petronas TVS Racing team as Chennai teenager Rakshith Dave finished second ahead of Bengaluru’s Chiranth Vishwanath, who started last having missed the practice and qualifying sessions on Friday due to a bout of food poisoning.

Another impressive performance came from 16-year-old Kabilesh (RACR Castrol Power1), son of former multiple National champion Rajini Krishnan, who won the Super Stock 301-400cc Open race dominantly to round off the day’s programme.

Meanwhile, former National women’s champion from Chennai, Ann Jennifer (Motul Sparks Racing), also scripted a fairytale victory in the Super Stock 165cc Intermediate race, which she started last on the grid after failing to set a time during qualifying this morning, following a crash.

Thiruvallur’s Mohamed Mikail (Team MRA) won the Pro-Stock 200cc Open in a tight finish, while local challenger Anandhu KK (Veedol C2 Racing) benefitted after race leader Kavicholairasan (Speed Up Racing) crashed in the Stock 301-400cc Novice race and Yashwant Verma led a 1-2 finish for Motul Sparks Racing in the Stock 165cc Novice class.

Hyderabad’s Rajender Beedani notched his second win in three outings in the Expert (RR 310) class, holding off Bengaluru’s AS James in a close finish.

Poojita Anil Kumar, the teenager from Bengaluru, also recorded her second win in as many races in the Women (Apache RTR 200) class, sparing some 29 seconds to second-placed Hannah Akkineni Joshitha from Hyderabad.

Pothu Vignesh from Mancherial took the top honours in the Rookie (Apache RTR 200) class, followed by Bengaluru’s Dev Agastya.

The results (Provisional – all six laps unless mentioned):

Super Sport 301-400cc Open (Race-1): 1. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, Petronas TVS Racing) (11mins, 03.311secs); 2. Rakshith Dave (Chennai, Petronas TVS Racing) (11:03.506); 3. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru, Petronas TVS Racing) (11:06.187).

Pro-Stock 200cc Open (Race-1): 1. Mohamed Mikail (Thiruvallur, Team MRA) (11:51.610); 2. Amarnath Menon K (Kozhikode, MadRabbit Racing) (11:51.831); 3. Abdul Basim RS (Chennai, Chandra LGE Racing) (11:53.924).

Super Stock 301-400cc Open (Race-1): 1. Kabilesh Rajini Krishnan (Chennai, RACR Castrol Power1) (11:38.273); 2. Kamal Navas (Chennai, Rockers Racing) (11:41.065); 3. Seshadri (Bengaluru, Motul Gusto Racing) (11:41.153).

Super Stock 165cc Intermediate (Race-1): 1. Ann Jennifer AS (Chennai, Motul Sparks Racing) (12:46.048); 2. D Annish Samson (Bengaluru, Motul Sparks Racing) (12:53.234); 3. Anandhu KK (Chennai, Veedol C2 Racing) (12:55.971).

Stock 301-400cc Novice (Race-1): 1. Anandhu KK (Chennai, Veedol C2 Racing) (12:15.190); 2. Rehbar Islam Baktoo (J & K, Motul Gusto Racing) (12:17.181); 3. Ashwin R (Bengaluru, Pvt.) (12:17.860).

Stock 165cc Novice (Race-1): 1. Yashwant Varma (Visakhapatnam, Motul Sparks Racing) (13:09.445); 2. Raja Sreeharsha Singamsetty (Tadipatri, Motul Sparks Racing) (13:09.792); 3. Dev Agastya (Bengaluru, Pvt.) (13:10.097).

Petronas TVS Racing One-Make Championship:

Expert (Apache RR 310) (Race-1): 1. Rajender Beedani (Hyderabad) (11:42.499); 2. AS James (Bengaluru) (11:42.612); 3. Kamal Navas (Chennai) (11:44.190).

Women (Apache RTR 200) (5 laps): 1. Poojita Anil Kumar (Bengaluru) (11:14.009); 2. Hannah Akkineni Joshitha (Hyderabad) (11:43.872); 3. Mansi Ashok Walunj (Pune) (11:43.884).

Rookie (Apache RTR 200) (Race-1): 1. Pothu Vignesh (Mancherial) (13:13.842); 2. Dev Agastya (Bengaluru) (13:14.321); 3. Rehbar Islam Baktoo (J & K) (13:14.381).

--IANS

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