Neither rain-interruptions, nor the overcast conditions could dampen the spirit of either the riders, or the sell-out crowd as the 2018 season of the Gixxer Cup kick-started in an emphatic fashion at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore this weekend. Defending champion Joseph Matthew continued his fine run of form from last-year, overcoming a highly competitive grid, and challenging racing conditions to eke out impressive victories in Race 1 and Race 2 of the season opener of the Suzuki Gixxer Cup. In Suzuki Gixxer Redbull Road to Rookies, it was Zothanmawia from Aizwal, who took the top-honours in both, the Race 1, and Race 2 conducted this weekend.
In the Race 1, Matthew, who hails from Chennai, had established a strong lead in the initial laps itself, which he held on to, clocking 14:15:877 minutes over 10 laps. The fight for the second-spot had been a more closely contested affair between Aizwal’s Malsawmdawngliana (14:19:122) and Bengaluru’s Syed Muzamil Ali (14:19:181), with the former prevailing by a margin of just 59 milliseconds. It was a similar story in the Race 2 as well, with Matthew leading from start-to-finish, clocking 14:16:799 seconds, which also included this weekend’s best lap-time of 1:23:411 minutes. However, it was a role-reversal for the second and third spot as this time Syed Muzamil Ali (14:18:749) managed to narrowly edge past Malsawmdawngliana (14:18:951) in an exciting finish.
At the end of Round 1 of the Suzuki Gixxer Cup, Joseph Matthew leads the championship table with 20 points with Syed Muzamil Ali and Malsawmdawngliana in keen pursuit at 14 points each. Anthony Lalawmpuia, from Aizwal with 8-points occupies the fourth-spot, followed by Clinton Cordeiro with 7-point at the fifth-spot. Vidhan Dubey from Bhopal, and Sanjeev Mhatre, from Mumbai are tied at 6-points each.
Meanwhile, the Suzuki Gixxer Redbull Road to Rookies, was completely dominated by Zothanmawia. During Race 1, he clocked 14:23:901 minutes, while in the Race 2, he clocked 14:36:129 minutes including the round’s best lap time of 1:24:176 minutes. Aizwal’s PC Andy Lalhmangaihsang (14:47:701) emerged second in the Race 1 ahead of Jerome Vanlalrengpuia from Lawngtla, (14:50:264); while in the Race 2, Jerome from Lawngtla (15:04:514) wrested the second-spot from PC Andy Lalhmangaihsang (15:13:476) who finished third.
The Suzuki Gixxer Cup and the Suzuki Gixxer Redbull Road to Rookies are conducted under the aegis of FIM and FMSCI, in association with JK Tyre Motorsports.
From a total of 300 entries received from all over the country, a total of 22 riders were shortlisted for the Suzuki Gixxer Cup, while 8 riders for the Suzuki Gixxer Red Bull Road to Rookies. The selected riders were given thorough technical training session for 3-days at Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore; followed by theory sessions & on track riding under the guidance of experts in the industry as a part of their race preparations.
The second round of the of 2018 season of JK Tyre Suzuki Gixxer Cup would be held at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore from August 31th to Sepember 02nd, 2018.
