Amby Valley (Maharashtra), April 15 (IANS): Multiple-time national champion Hemanth Muddappa of Mantra Racing began the season with a bang winning a grand double in the summer edition of the Valley Run 2024, which concluded here with a huge participation from all over the country. Bengaluru’s Muddappa was also adjudged as the fastest rider of the day in Vally Run 2024, the first drag event of the season at Amby Valley Air Strip, Maharashtra.
The fmsci event was scheduled to run concurrently with the first round of the Nationals, but the MMSC Nationals were postponed, and the organisers Elite Octane and Sportscraft successfully completed the annual 2024 edition.
Muddappa, the 12-time National champion from Bengaluru, punched above his weight, as he won the Unrestricted class with a 1000cc stock bike, the BMW S1000RRR, and still managed to set a national record of 09.480 seconds for a 1000cc category bike against the mighty line of up of Nitrous Oxide, turbo and supercharged bikes. He edged out seasoned rider Mohammed Riyaz from Hyderabad to second place, continuing their epic battles at the National level.
“Amazing race against all odds and we at Mantra Racing did it once again. A big thank you to champion architect Sharan Jayram (tuner) and all the team at Mantra. We nailed it. A special thanks to Appu Raj and super credit to my coach JMI Haly for helping me cut enough weight for the race day,” said Muddappa after the race.
In the four-stroke 851 to 1050cc Open class, Muddappa clocked 09.692 to take the second gold ahead of Dr Riddhiish Patil of Mumbai but had to be content with a second place in the third category he took part. Astride a Dayatona, Riyaz won the 4-stroke 551 up to 850cc Open class in 10.421 seconds, to push Muddappa’s Kawasaki Ninja 6R to second place.
Provisional results (3 classes):
Unrestricted Open 550cc and above: 1. Hemanth Muddappa (Mantra Racing, Bengaluru) 09.480; 2. Mohammed Riyaz (Hyderabad) 09.521; 3. Dr Riddhish Patil (Mumbai) 09.735.
4-stroke 851 to 1050cc Open: 1. Hemanth Muddappa 09.692; 2. Dr Riddhish Patil 09.824; 3. Stephen Pachigala (Hyderabad) 09.831.
4-stroke 551 to 850cc Open: 1. Mohammed Riyaz 10.421; 2. Hemanth Muddappa 10.524; 3.Siddharth Parmar (Mumbai) 10.649.