We saw intense racing action at the start of the 2017 MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Championship (INMRC). Honda Racing secured 7 podiums this season, the highest by any manufacturer in this edition.
This was the inaugural round of the championship this year, which was held at Kari Motor Speedway at Coimbatore. Honda not only scored 7 podiums overall, but also clinched double podiums in both Supersport 165cc and Pro-stock 165cc races. Honda's racing stalwarts Rajiv, Mathana and Mithun made sure they put Honda Racing on the podium at the closing of the first round of this season.
In the first race of the Super Sport 165cc, Rajiv S led the pack with a total lap time of 07:53.415. Mathana Kumar S. came second with just one second gap and a lap time of 07:53.947. Race 2 also brought good news for Honda Racing as Mathana scored his second consecutive podium in a total time of 19:11.374. Both Rajiv and Mathana emerged the fastest riders by clocking 1:14.032 and 1:14.737 respectively.
The Pro Stock 165cc race also saw Honda’s dominance as Honda riders grabbed 4 out of the 6 podiums in both the races. Mithun Kumar P.K from Honda Ten10 Racing Team secured the first position and also the fastest lap times in both Race 1 (best lap – 1:18.359) and Race 2 (best lap - 1:19.159). Then, B. Aravind closed the Race 1 with second position, while Soorya P.M also grabbed the second position in the Race 2 of the Pro-stock Championship.
The highest number of podiums in the first round mean that Honda now has a standard to maintain. With the experience they have of racing at every level up to MotoGP, it shouldn't be too difficult. We look forward to the next INRC round.
