CHENNAI, JULY 7 :  History was scripted at the Madras International Circuit at Irungattukottai,
about 40 km from here on Sunday when a dead-heat finish, involving two TVS Racing team-mates
Jagan Kumar and Sarthak Chavan, was decided in favour of the former on the basis of the fastest
lap of the race as the second round of the MRF MMSC-FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2024 came to a thrilling finish.

Old-timers believe that it is the first time in the Indian racing history that two competitors had the same timing at the finish, requiring the fastest lap provision to be implemented to decide the winner.

This happened in the Pro-Stock 165cc Open race when veteran Jagan Kumar, a 10-time National champion, and his TVS Racing team-mate 17-year-old Sarthak Chavan crossed the finish line together, clocking the same timing. Jagan was declared winner because he had posted the fastest lap of the six-lap race.

The result denied Sarthak an all-win record across both Pro-Stock categories, the 301-400cc Open and the 165cc Open.

Earlier in the day, Sarthak had achieved a double in the higher class and looked set for a clean sweep before the photo-finish which went in Jagan’s favour.

Meanwhile, Chennai’s Jagathishree Kumaresan (One Racing) completed a double in the Girls
(Stock 165cc) category as did another local rider, Abdul Basim (Rockers Racing) in the Novice

(Stock 165cc) class while Pradeep C from Bengaluru notched his maiden win in the National Championship with a P1 finish in the Stock 301-400cc (Novice) race.

Bengaluru’s Chiranth Vishwanath (TVS Racing) won the Indian Oil award for the fastest lap on Sunday across all categories for clocking a blistering 01:48.648 in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open

category, but he lost the race to Sarthak when he missed a gear on the back sweep on the last
lap to concede the slender lead.

In an innovative move, promoters Madras Motor Sports Club decided to present trophies to the top five finishers in a race instead of the top three.

In the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup, Mohsin Paramban from Malappuram completed a fine
double in the NSF 250R category to open up a 37-point lead in the provisional standings. Two Bengaluru riders Savion Sabu and AS James finished second and third respectively in the
eight-lap race.

In TVS One-Make Championship, Sarthak Chavan extended his domination with a second consecutive win in the TVS Electric RTE race that was reduced to three laps following an on-track incident. Chiranth Vishwanath came in second ahead of Alwin Sundar (Chennai).(UNI)