Vidhuraj, Rajnikanth, Gladwin win at the Suzuki Gixxer Cup Open

The Madras Motor Race Track, which played host to an extended five-day weekend for the Gixxer Cup and Road to Rookies Cup riders, alongside the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2016. Meka Vidhuraj, R Rajnikanth and Vivian Gladwin came out on top in each of the races of Round 2 of the Suzuki Gixxer Cup.

Race 1 of the Open Cup saw last year’s podium finisher Meka Vidhuraj take the first position from R Rajinikanth and Vishwadev Muraleedharan in a very closely fought battle among four equally talented riders separated by 7/10th of a second.

In Race 2, Meka crashed out of the Open race, leaving R Rajinikanth to battle with Vivian Gladwin and Vishwadev Muraleedharan for the top three positions. Rajinikanth reigned supreme followed by Vivian Gladwin and Vishwadev Muraleedharan taking second and third respectively.

Race 3 witnessed an amazing comeback from Meka, who started last on the grid and eventually ended second after Vivian Gladwin and just a tenth of a second ahead of Vishwadev who took third.

Coming to the Red Bull Road to Rookies Cup, it was the first round and is the first of its kind series which provides young and aspiring Indian racers a launch-pad to the international racing. It began with an introduction and orientation workshop conducted by Suzuki and Red Bull for the Rookies – theory classes, track ride through, sighting laps and practice sessions interspersed with feedback sessions from Suzuki’s team of racing instructors.

The results for the Rookie and Open races are:

Rookie Race 1
Laps: 4
1st: Sachin Choudhary 9:19.705
2nd: Varoon 9:20.037
3rd: Alexander 09:29.225
Best Lap: Varoon 2:16.892

Rookie Race 2
Laps: 4
1st: Aaron Gunawardena 9:05.809
2nd: Varoon 9:23.893
3rd: Alexander 9:29.492
Best Lap: Aaron Gunawarden 2:12:772 (100.7 kmph)

Rookie Race 3
Laps: 4
1st: Aaron Gunawardena 9:07.216
2nd: Varoon 9:23.711
3rd: Alexander 9:28.228
Best Lap: Aaron Gunawarden 2:14:348

Open Race 1
Laps: 6
1st: Meka Vidhuraj 13:28.003
2nd: R Rajinikanth 13:28.145
3rd: Vishwadev Muraleedharan 13:28.614
Best Lap: Vivian Gladwin 2:12:232 (101.1 kmph)

Open Race 2
Laps: 6
1st: R Rajinikanth 13:36:688
2nd: Vivian Gladwin 13:37:359
3rd: Vishwadev Muraleedharan 13:39.738
Best Lap: Vivian Gladwin 2:13:204 (100.4 kmph)

Open Race 3
Laps: 6
1st: Vivian Gladwin 13:32:558
2nd: Meka Vidhuraj 13:33:316
3rd: Vishwadev Muraleedharan 13:33.408
Best Lap: Vishwadev Muraleedharan 2:13:072 (100.5 kmph)

The next round of the Gixxer Cup and Road to Rookies Cup will be held from the 1st to 4th September 2016 at MMRT Chennai.