Chennai, Dec 26 (IANS): The Madras International Circuit here will host Rounds 2, 3 and 4 this week as the curtains come down on the MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Drag Racing Championship 2022 here from Tuesday till Friday.

While the first round of the four-round Championship was held in July, the subsequent outings could not be held as scheduled due to monsoon rains and the Mandhus cyclone that severely impacted the region. Because of this, the promoters, Madras Motor Sports Club, decided to bunch the remaining three rounds and complete the championship.

Tuesday has been set aside for practice sessions, while the following three days will witness final runs in Rounds 2, 3 and 4 at the end of which the National Champions will be declared.

As has been the trend in the championship, close to 150 entries, across eight categories, have been received with MMSC incentivizing the riders to compete in all three rounds this week.

Headlining the highly-competitive field is reigning national champion Hemanth Muddappa representing the Mantra Racing team from Bengaluru. In the first round in July, Muddappa won two National championship races and one support race, and he is expected to extend his domination this week.

One of the highlights of the weekend would be the 4-Stroke Unrestricted category where Muddappa faces arch-rival and fellow-Bengalurean Alimon Saidalvi who won the 302-metre dash in July, the organisers informed in a release on Monday.

On view, this week would be an array of superbikes, ranging from the Suzuki Hayabusa to Triumph to BMW, besides a host of modified Indian bikes.

In fact, Bengaluru is very strongly represented in all the categories while riders from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, fill up the rest of the grids.

Two of the categories - Super Sport 851-1050cc and Super Sport 166-225cc - will be run as support events.

As in the past, the 2-Stroke categories have attracted the most number of entries, totalling over 60 while the Girls class (4-Stroke up to 165cc) has eight competitors.