Kabilesh rajini krishnan

Indian National Racing Challenge: Rakshith Dave, a gifted rider from Chennai and only 18 years old, who survived a horrific crash on Saturday, was handed the biggest victory of his career as he got promoted to the top step of the podium following a 30-second penalty to the race winner Chiranth Vishwanath from Bengaluru in the premier Super Sport 301-400cc class as the first round of the Indian National Racing Challenge 2W-2026 concluded at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

Earlier, 16-year-old Kabilesh Rajini Krishnan, riding for his father’s team, RACR Castrol Power1, and in just his second full season, scripted his maiden win in domestic competition by topping the Super Stock 301-400cc race while equally impressive was another Chennai rider, Ann Jennifer (Motul Sparks Racing), a former National woman champion, who won the Super Stock 165cc race in which she was the only female competitor. She thus completed a grand double, having won Race-1 on Saturday.

Also notching a double was Hari Haran (RACR Castrol Power1) from Coimbatore in the Stock 165cc (Novice) category in a tight finish while young Abdul Basim (Chandra LGE Racing) took the honours in the Pro-Stock 200cc Open race with a couple of front-runners crashing out. Undoubtedly, this was the closest race of the weekend with a bunch of five riders in the frame to win before the last lap crash which decided the podium finishers. Amarnath Menon (MadRabbit Racing) from Kozhikode, returning to racing after a four-year break, finished second and ahead of Chennai’s Soorya PM (Chandra LGE Racing).