Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship: Hyderabad’s Rahil Pillarisetty (RACR Castrol Power1) delivered a stunning lap late in the qualifying session to take pole position in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open category to kick start his campaign in the Rolon Round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2025 at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Friday.
Others who qualified for pole positions in their respective National championship categories were: Raj Kumar (Coimbatore, Motul Sparks Racing) in Super Stock 165cc Intermediate; Mohamed Mikail (Thiruvallur, Mad Rabbit Racing) in Stock 301-400cc (Novice), and Charu Sreekara Kedarnadh (Tirupati, Motul KTM Gusto Racing India) in Stock 165cc (Novice).
The 27-year-old Pillarisetty’s best lap of one minute, 10.972 secs, which he clocked at the fag end of the session, saw him pip Petronas TVS Racing’s teenage riders, Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru and defending champion Sarthak Chavan (Pune), with less than a second separating the front-row trio.
“I am happy to be back on the Yamaha R3 after a few seasons on KTM. I had a good lap today, but it is all so close, and I look forward to tomorrow’s race,” said 27-year-old Rahil, who announced his presence on the grid in the first round in June when he won Race-2, holding off Sarthak in a tense finish.
Chiranth, the 17-year-old Bengalurean, said: “I had some issues with my bike, but Rahil was quick. I am not happy with P2 for tomorrow’s race. Hopefully, I will do better.”
Sarthak, 18, shrugged off his P3 qualification. “The pressure will be on him (Rahil) tomorrow. I will try to do my best in the race,” he said.
Jammu’s Raivat Dhar qualified for pole position in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (Honda CB300F), while in the Petronas TVS India One-Make Championship, Chennai’s Mohan Babu (Expert), and Jagathishree Kumaresan (Women), also from Chennai, grabbed pole positions in their respective classes.
Provisional results (Qualifying – top 3 best laps):
National Championship:
Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open: 1. Rahil Pillarisetty (Hyderabad, RACR Castrol Power1) (01min, 10.972secs); 2. Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru, Petronas TVS Racing) (01:11.249); 3. Sarthak Chavan (Pune, Petronas TVS Racing) (01:11.262).
Super Stock 165cc Intermediate: 1. Raj Kumar (Coimbatore, Motul Sparks Racing) (01:23.303); 2. Mohammed Samrul Zubair (Hyderabad, Motul Sparks Racing) (01:24.517); 3. Kamal Navas (Chennai, Rockers Racing) (01:24.683).
Stock 301-400cc (Novice): 1. Mohamed Mikail (Thiruvallur, Mad Rabbit Racing) (01:18.533); 2. Varun Patil (Bengaluru, Mad Rabbit Racing) (01:19.447); 3. Jagadeesh Nagaraj (Bengaluru, Motul Sparks Racing) (01:19.703).
Stock 165cc (Novice): 1. Charu Sreekara Kedarnadh (Tirupati, Motul KTM Gusto Racing India) (01:27.101); 2. Tejash BA (Tumakuru, Mad Rabbit Racing) (01:27.428); 3. Rajender Beedani (Hyderabad, MAI Racing) (01:27.433).
Petronas TVS India One-Make Championship:
Expert (Apache RR 310): 1. Mohan Babu P (Chennai) (01:16.625); 2. Siddesh Sawant (Kolhapur) (01:17.099); 3. Abdul Basim (Chennai) (01:17:310).
Women (Apache RTR 200): 1. Jagathishree Kumaresan (Chennai) (01:27.718); 2. SP Shuria (Bengaluru) (01:28.185); 3. Elakiya Ravi (Chennai) (01:28.580).
Expert (Apache RR 310): 1. Mohan Babu P (Chennai) (01:16.625); 2. Siddesh Sawant (Kolhapur) (01:17.099); 3. Abdul Basim (Chennai) (01:17:310).
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Honda CB300F: 1. Raivat Dhar (Jammu) (01:23.424); 2. Tejash BA (Malappuram) (01:24.022); 3. Amit Prasad (Bengaluru) (01:24.175).