Rajini clinches title with double win at the final round in Chennai

Current National Champion K. Rajini clinches the 2011 Indian Superbikes title in style by winning race 1 and race 2 of the Round 5 National Motorcycle & Superbike Championship held at Chennai, MMRT Circuit.

Race 1 (Saturday)
Rajini (Team Motorev India) qualified on pole and had a slender lead of 6 points over rookie R Deepak (Preethi Racing). At the lights the experienced Rajini took a clean start to lead into C1 and slowly started to pull away. Deepak who was running second also pulled a cushion over Gautham and Rohit. It was Gautham and Rohit who gave a treat for the spectators by battling hard for the third place till the last lap. Rajini won the race followed by Deepak and extended his championship lead by 8 points with just one race to go. Gautham managed to defend the attacks of Rohit and gained the final podium spot.

Race 2 (Sunday)
The last race of the season with the championship to be decided will always be a nervous experience for the teams, riders and fans. Even though Rajini had 8 points lead, a simple crash can spoil the day for the leader and hand the championship to the other one but Rajini played it cool. At the lights, Rajini flew to a fine start over Deepak and led the race from start to finish over new comer Deepak who showed immense talent and skill in the class from the opening round. Again the only battle was third place between Gautham and Rohit until lap 6 after which Rohit backed off. Rajini won the race and the title over Deepak who finished 2nd and Gautham made it to third again.

After the race Rajini said "It´s my 9th consecutive championship and I am very very happy. First of all I thank my sponsor Moto Rev, tuner Joe and my mechanics. The championship was close till the last race because I had a crash in 2nd round in Coimbatore. I didn´t push too much I did my natural race, but if Deepak was close then I would have pushed a bit, so I took it easy. " On Deepak, Rajini said "I am riding for a long time and I have experience from international competitions but Deepak who was on his first year in this class was really fast and up to speed".

Championship runner up Deepak said "I am very happy to finish 2nd in the championship as this is only my first year in the Superbikes class. It´s also a great thing to ride with much experienced racers like Rajini, Rohit and others." Deepak was also awarded the Rookie of the year 2011 title later in the evening for his extraordinary performance in the Group A Superbikes category in his first year. He also won the Group B 165cc 2011 championship this year.