Chennai: The city of Chennai is set to rekindle its love-affair with motorsports as Honda One Make Race Championship 2015 enters its final lap at the MMRT on Sunday, Feb 21, 2016. With India's best talent in fray competing for the Championship honors, including local favorite - Sarath Shankar Kumar, an action-packed weekend Sunday awaits all speed enthusiasts at the Honda One Make Race.
Sarath Kumar from Ten 10 Racing, who is on an unbeaten 6 race winning streak, will start at the pole yet again. He will be the hot-favorite to clinch the Honda One Make Race Championship in CBR 250 Open category in style, with a victory on his home-patch. On the otherhand, Sumit Lucas Toppo (Ranchi) from Prolap and Dinesk Kumar (Chennai) from United Tech Torque would be keen cap-off the season with a strong-finish. Sunday will also witness Ten 10 Racing clinch the Team Championship for 2015 season.
The CBR 150R Championship is set to go down the wire with the Chennai-duo Sivanesan S and Aravind tied at 141 points each. Kishoar VS from Coimbatore, who will start Sunday on the pole position, is placed third going into the final-round. A status quo will ensure a clean-sweep for the state of Tamil Nadu in the category.
Honda Ladies Race
In a step towards achieving a greater democratization of motorsport, and to encourage more women participation, Honda today flagged-off the first ever Honda All Ladies Race in Chennai. Amid huge cheers, 10 women from all over India took to the grid for this historic race. Puja A Dhabi from Pune aced the qualifiers and will start on Sunday in the pole position. Running her close would be the Chennai-duo of Shruti and Rihana Reva who finished second and third respectively.
Schedule for 21st February 2016 – Sunday
Start Time End Time Duration Session Championship
9:30 10:00 0:30 R3 - Honda CBR 150 R Novice - Race 1 Honda One Make Championship
10:40 11:10 0:30 R5 - Honda Media Race - Race 1 Honda Support Races
12:00 12:30 0:30 R8 - Honda CBR250 R Open - Race 1 Honda One Make Championship
12:35 13:05 0:30 R7 - Honda Ladies Race Honda Support Races
13:45 14:15 0:30 R9 - Honda Media Race - Race 2 Honda Support Races
14:20 14:50 0:30 R10 - Honda CBR150 R Novice - Race 2 Honda One Make Championship
14:55 15:25 0:30 R11 - Honda CBR250 R Open - Race 2 Honda One Make Championship
17:00 18:00 1:00 Honda Prize Distribution & Entertainment All
Honda One Make Race completes 8 years
Since its inception in 2008, the Honda One Make Race continues to grow in scale and prestige. The championship draws entries from biking enthusiasts converging from as far as Mizoram, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Aizwal, Jalgaon, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Trichy and Aoroville.
Bringing intense adrenaline and excitement to the race, the CBR 250R category was under a Team Championship wherein Honda leased out 16 CBR 250R performance bikes to teams registered at FMSCI. Excluding the engine, chassis and tires of CBR 250R and enable permitted performance enhancing modifications to the vehicle. Honda further supported participating teams with Original Spare parts worth Rs. 10,000 and set of tyres replacement per round. These vehicles are modified with imported HRC performance kits for an exhilarating output.
Honda requires all participants to have undergone extensive racing training from Honda Ten10 Racing Academy or any other training school recognized by MMSC (Madras Motor Sports Club). This is done basically to ensure the riders’ safety at the track.
International exposure through The Asia Dream Cup
Asia Dream Cup is the brain-child of Honda Motor Company, Japan. Through this unique racing activity, Honda gives Indian riders a platform to develop riding skills comparable to the best of Asian riders. From India, Honda has sponsored three riders - Sethu Rajiv, Hari Krishnan and Sarath Kumar. This year for the second time, participants were asked to train at Suzuka Racing School (Suzuka Circuit, Japan) for taking part in Asia Dream Endurance Race – 2 hours.
MoU with Ten10 Racing academy
To further develop new talent and nurture motorsport talent in India, Honda has signed an MoU with Ten 10 Racing Academy. Already, 7 academy sessions for professional racing training have been held, wherein over 150 riders above 15 years of age participated. Encouraged by the overwhelming response, Honda recently opened a new racing academy this month itself at Bhubaneswar (Odisha).
Also, in addition to this Honda has offered Free Riding Suit and Riding Boots to the HOMR Novice Category- CBR 150R. Moreover, Honda CBR 250R introduced new engine for the 2015 racing season.