The third round of Suzuki’s popular one-make Gixxer Cup hosted the final round of the Red Bull Road to Rookies Cup at Chennai in India at the weekend and saw exciting racing throughout all classes.
Following the opening round in June, Open, Novice and Rookie class riders have become more accustomed to their new 2016 Gixxer SF 155cc race machines and showed improved performances at the second event to be staged at the Madras Motor Race Track.
The Open Category saw two closely-fought races with Meka Vidhuraj in top form to take the top podium position twice, although it wasn’t an easy fight for him each time, with three strong contenders for the podium. In Race 1, he won against Rajinikanth and Prabhu with less than a second gap. In Race 2, it was even closer was he crossed the line just 0.015s ahead of Vivian Gladwin and Rajinikanth; all three riders within 0.1s of each other.
The Novice Category had a busy three races over the weekend, with Joseph Mathew winning all three; the rest of the podium positions were taken by four contenders - Antony Peter, Amarnath Rajan, Clinton Cordeiro and Alan Fernando. The Red Bull Road to Rookies Cup saw two of the three races won by Sri Lanka’s Aaron Gunawerdena with Sachin Choudhary second in two races before winning the final event. Third position was taken by AS Alexander on two occasions, while S Varoon fought competitively throughout all three events, which added to the excitement.
The round culminated in a thrilling yet tough decision for the team at Suzuki Motorcycle and Red Bull India to choose one lucky rider who gets to represent India at the Rookies Cup Qualifying in Spain later this year. After careful observation and analysis of the riders’ performance, mature attitude and improvement graph over the last two rounds and two training sessions, the unanimous decision was in favour of Sachin Choudhary.
The next round of the Suzuki Gixxer Cup moves to the north of India on September 29th to October 2nd at the famous Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida. This time, the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship is joined by the Asian Road Racing Championship and their entire grid line-up.
The Suzuki Gixxer Cup and Red Bull Road to Rookies Cup are organised by Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) and approved by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).
Rookie Race 1 Laps: 4 1st: Aaron Gunawardena 8:57.368 2nd: Sachin Choudhary 9:20.422 3rd: AS Alexander 09:21.865 Best Lap: Aaron Gunawardena 2:11.549 (101.6 kmph)
Novice Race 1 Laps: 4 1st: Joseph P Mathew 8:58.965 2nd: Antony Peter 9:04.755 3rd: Clinton Cordeiro 9:21:862 Best Lap: Joseph P Mathew 2:11:998
Open Race 1 Laps: 6 1st: Meka Vidhuraj 13:42.516 2nd: Rajinikanth B 13:43.453 3rd: Prabhu V 13:44:238 Best Lap: Rajinikanth B 2:13.497 (100.2 kmph)
Rookie Race 2 Laps: 4 1st: Aaron Gunawardena 9:03.310 2nd: Sachin Choudhary 9:10.101 3rd: AS Alexander 9:34.239 Best Lap: Aaron Gunawarden 2:11:591 (101.6 kmph)
Novice Race 2 Laps: 4 1st: Joseph P Mathew 9:08.007 2nd: Antony Peter 9:09.585 3rd: Alan Fernando 9:25.974 Best Lap: Joseph P Mathew 2:13.143
Open Race 2 Laps: 6 1st: Meka Vidhuraj 13:32.811 2nd: Vivian Gladwin 13:32:826 3rd: Rajinikanth B 13:32:993 Best Lap: Vivian Gladwin 2:12:862 (100.6 kmph)
Rookie Race 3 Laps: 4 1st: Sachin Choudhary 9:01.111 2nd: AS Alexander 9:22.302 3rd: S Varoon 9:24.414 Best Lap: Sachin Choudhary 2:13.124
Novice Race 3 Laps: 4 1st: Joseph P Mathew 8:59.288 2nd: Antony Peter 9:00.965 3rd: Amarnath Rajan 9:12.665 Best Lap: Joseph P Mathew 2:12.512 (100.9 kmph)
