Shyam Shankar tops in 'crash' course

CHENNAI: Sameer V was in obvious pain, but then a collarbone injury is not something that bikers would complain about. It is a routine hazard in their chosen line of work.

"It is just a collarbone fracture," said the Apex Racing rider, sitting in the ambulance after a crash which involved three riders including him and pole-setter K Jagan of TVS.

The incident took place just two corners into the Group D up to 165cc Open category Race 1 at Kari Motor Speedway on Sunday, the final day of the second round of MRF National Motorcycling Championships.

More crashes followed on restart, with eight of the original 20 riders failing to finish the exciting race that saw Shyam Shankar of Moto-Rev India take the honours after a three-way dogfight with TVS riders.

P Deva Kumar of TVS finished second ahead of Jagan, who rode brilliantly to come up the field after being forced to start the race from the back of the grid following the first crash.

The incident-filled race, which was restarted after the Sameer-Jagan crash, was again stopped after a lap when seasoned rider A Prabhu tumbled down at the start-finish straight. Prabhu luckily survived the horrific accident with just a fracture to the collarbone and bruises.

The highly competitive segment, which involves modified four-stroke bikes (below 165cc) had a equally thrilling second race which was also won by Shyam, who completed a memorable double and celebrated it in style too, with a couple of wheelies down the straight, cheered on by the crowd.

In Superbikes, K Rajini showed the rest of the field who the real boss is, destroying the chasing group led by Saturday's Race 1 winner R Deepak. Rajini had a crash on Saturday and was determined to ride well in the second race.

The Chennai rider, ten-time national champ, did more than just "riding well". He built almost a 25-metre advantage with Deepak in the first two laps, before easing off to complete a routine victory. His teammate M Gautham finished third.

Results Day 2:

Honda CBR150 (Race 2): 1. Sudhakar Kesavan; 2. Thamarai
Kannan; 3. Aravind Ganesh. Yamaha R15 Novice (Race 2): 1. Allwyn Jebas; 2. Gaurav Naidu; 3. Vivek Mani. Group D 4S 165cc Open (Race 1): 1. Shyam Shankar (Moto-Rev India); 2. P Devakumar (Ten10 Racing); 3. K Jagan (TVS Racing).
Honda CBR 250 Open: 1. M Gautham; 2. A. Sathish Kumar; 3. Shyam Shankar.

Group D 4S up to 130cc Novice (Race 2): 1. P. Anand (TVS); 2. S Prativ; 3. Abdul Wahab. Honda CB Stunner Open (Race 2): 1. M. Sudhakar; 2. Thamaraikannan; 3. GR Santhosh 11:59.585. Group D 4S up to 165cc Novice (Race 2): 1. N. Abhishek (Moto-rev); 2. S. Madhan; 3. S. Prativ. Group A 600cc Superbikes (Race 2): 1. K Rajini (Moto-Rev); 2. R. Deepak (Preethi Racing); 3. M. Gautham (Moto-rev).

Yamaha R15 Open (Race 2): 1. Shyam Shankar; 2. K. Vinoth; 3. Dinesh Kumar.
Group B up to 165cc Open (Race 2): 1. R. Deepak; 2. Harry Sylvester (TVS); 3. P. Karthick (TVS). Honda Twister Novice (Race 2): 1. Sabari Babu; 2. Gaurav Naidu; 3. S. Prativ. Group D 4s upto 165cc Open (Race 2): 1. Shyam Shankar (Moto Rev); 2. P. Deva Kumar (Ten10); 3. D. Dinesh Kumar (Moto Rev).