National Drag Racing Championship: Lightning Hemanth Muddappa ready to strike again

Bengaluru, July 22: Mantra Racing's Hemant Muddappa, the fastest Indian rider and a nine-time national champion is hungry for more national titles, as he begins campaign in the 2022 season of the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) Federation of Motorsports Clubs of Indian (FMSCI) Indian National Drag Racing Championship that begins at the Madras International Circuit (MIC) near Chennai from Saturday (July 23).

In an unprecedented move, the champion based in Bengaluru will be riding in four classes this season, including the above 851 to 1050cc class, which is now a supporting race.

This year Hemanth will also take part in the 550-850cc class, and with the re-introduction of the Unrestricted Open category as a Championship class, the Drag Racing Nationals will now allow Muddappa to gun for historic 12 national titles.

As per a media release received, Muddappa is leaving no stone unturned in his prepatrations and has tested a Kawasaki ZX6R which is the new addition to his
armoury besides his Suzuki Hayabusa and BMW S1000RR, together with which he had bagged nine national titles from 2016 in two different classes.

The combination of Mantra Racing and Muddappa has created record after record at every circuit in India and all the top national records in the top-two classes, stand in his name making him the fastest Indian motorsports athlete.

A high-performance rider, he trains hard both on physical fitness and mental conditioning with a focus on his riding skills.

"We started right after the last round and put in sustained efforts. One of the classes isn't there anymore but with the introduction of a new class, I'll be taking part in four classes. The aim is to go for three national titles this year," said the Coorg-based rider, who is also a champion at the FMSCI-licensed Lonavala event, that is run on a proper quarter-mile format.

That track record is also in Muddappa's name. Known as LightningR1, for his superfast runs, he holds both the national records -- 851 to 1050cc class and 1051cc and above class -- which he bettered last season at MIC.

From the original four rounds, the promoters -- MMSC -- reduced the calendar to three rounds. The second round will be on November 5 and 6 and the final round is scheduled to be held at the same venue on December 17 and 18.

The length of MMSC Track is 302M (1,000 feet) for vehicles above 550cc and for all other classes it is 402M.

The Braking Distance is 451.2M for vehicles above 550cc and 351.2M for all other vehicles. The new class of 4-stroke unrestricted has been given national championship status.

There will be eight different classes including a Ladies class for 4-Stroke stock upto 165cc bikes.

Based on the total points allotted in each round, the national champion will be declared after the third round.