ndia's fastest rider Hemanth Muddappa began his 2024 campaign on a positive note with a double win at the opening round of the MMSC-FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Drag Racing Championship at the Madras International Circuit (MIC) at Irungattukottai on Saturday.
Muddappa, who won the National drag titles a record 12 times, continued his successful association with team Mantra Racing, and the combination dished out another stellar performance in the first round, missing the triple by a whisker.
He started with a hard-fought victory in 4-stroke 551 to 850cc Super Sport class clocking a blistering 8.630 seconds to edge out Hyderabad's Mohammed Riyaz, who timed 8.675 seconds. Altaf Khan, also from Hyderabad, came third.
The Bengaluru-based rider then took the start for the 851 to 1050cc Super Sport final run, but lost to Mumbai's Anvay Patil by eight hundredths of a second.
Mantra Racing's Muddappa clocked 8.294 seconds to Patil's 8.286. Muddappa's teammate Sugan Prasad SP came third in 8.448s.
But Muddappa was in his elements in the 4-stroke 1051 to 1650cc Super Sport class, where he logged a quick 08.063 seconds to take his second victory of the day.
He beat Bengaluru's Mujahid Pasha (8.103s) and Aymaan Baig, who came third in 8.117s.
Astride the Suzuki Hayabusa, the reigning champion in the Unrestricted class clocked 8.251 seconds for a tie with city-mate Pasha, who also clocked the same time but had a lesser reaction time, that was used to break the deadlock. Alimon Saidalvi came third.
