Chennai ITC: Ramaswamy, Ram share opening wins

In the first ITC race of the weekend, Ramaswamy started from pole position and pulled clear of the rest of the field, eventually claiming a dominant 30s win.

Nikanth Ram ran second for much of the race, but lost the position to Vijaya Kumar with a spin. He then came under pressure from veteran Vidya Prakash, but managed to hold on to the final podium spot.

Ramaswamy made it two ITC wins in a row in Race 2, despite starting from fourth on the grid. The Arka Motorsports driver gained two place on the opening laps and later passed Prakash to take the top spot on the podium.

Kumar finished second, while Prakash dropped down to third in the final order.

Polesitter Nikanth retired from the race, but chalked up his maiden win in the final contest of the weekend.

Ramaswamy was in prime position to sweep the opening round of the MMSC-run National Racing Championship, but an engine failure on lap 4 put him out of the race and allowed Nikanth to take the winning honours.

Prime Racing’s Raja Ram came home second, while the podium was completed by Biren Pithawalla.

Meanwhile, Bangalore’s Siddhanth Koundiya won both the 600cc Superbike races, both of his victories coming with a healthy margin of around 10 seconds,

Rish Agarwal, also from Bangalore, won the sole 1000cc Superbikes race, beating Himansh Amla and Yokeshwaran K to the top spot on the podium.