National motorcycle racing: Ryhana Bee regains girls title

Chennai, Jan 8 (PTI): Local rider Ryhana Bee (RACR Castrol Power Ultimate) regained the title in the girls category after two years with one race to spare as the fourth round of the MRF MMSC-FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2021 concluded at the MMRT track near here on Saturday.
Twenty-nine-year old Prabhu Arunagiri of Chennai stole the spotlight with a maiden win for Pacer Yamaha, a team returning to the national championship after a 12-year break, in Race-2 of the Pro-Stock 165cc Open category, holding off a quality field. The race was red-flagged and reduced to five laps from eight following a lap-1 incident, but it did not stop Prabhu from winning with leader Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) crashing in the penultimate lap.
Earlier in the day, Prabhu, who has been in and out of racing in the past few years, finished fourth in Race-1 that was won by Deepak Ravikumar who delivered a 1-2 finish for TVS Racing ahead of defending champion Jagan Kumar while Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda SK69 Racing) took third place. The two podium finishes saw Jagan moving to 159 points in the championship standings followed by Ravikumar (118) and Sethu (116).
Meanwhile, ace rider Rajini Krishnan (RACR Castrol Power Ultimate) took a big step towards winning the championship in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category as he picked up 50 valuable points. The 41-year old international finished second behind Thailand’s Vorapong Malahuan (TVS Racing), but with the foreigner ineligible for any points, Rajini picked up 25. He followed it up with a fine win in Race-2 on wearing tyres while Malahuan, who had a jump-start, faded out of contention.
After four rounds, Rajini has a tally of 168 points, ahead of Bengalurean Anish Damodara Shetty of Race Concepts (121) who finished third and second in the double-header. With one more round left in the championship and a maximum of 50 points up for grabs, Rajini has one had on the trophy with a 47-point lead.
Ryhana, 24, who missed the 2020 season owing to injuries after winning the championship in 2019, staged a remarkable recovery to catch up with early leader and defending champion Ann Jennifer before making a decisive pass on the last lap for a merited fourth consecutive victory. It took Ryhana’s tally to 100, way ahead of second-placed Mumbai’s Jagruti Kiran Penkar (Sparks Racing, 57 points) with just one more race remaining and which is scheduled to be run in the concluding round in February.