Chennai, Jan 30 : Shyam Shankar marked the debut of Yamaha Underbones (115cc) with two podium finishes on the opening day of the MRF International Challenge series, here Saturday.

The 17-bike grid that was assembled only this week after the brand new machines arrived from Hong Kong, could be seen before being heard, but the competition among the front runners was razor sharp.

Shyam Shankar, after winning the first race narrowly, was pushed to second spot in the next outing as Sarath Kumar came up with a well-paced run to get ahead towards the closing stages of the seven-lap event.

Veteran Sriskandarajah expectedly took the honours in the 165cc class (Group D, 4-stroke) after highting off close attention from Shyam Shankar and Sumit Lucas Toppo over seven laps. In the Group B 2-stroke class, it was K. Umesh Babu who won from S Rajkumar and S. Murali with not much separating the trio.

Quite the most convincing winner of the day was Sailesh Bliseti who topped in the Super Saloons (cc to weight) category after getting to the front in the second of the six laps. He eased off considerably in the latter part and still spared four seconds to Nithin S Ravindran.

Further down the field, B Balavijay comfortably won the Race Star Cup (stock engine), followed by Deepak Paul Chinnappa and Vignesh Devarajan.

The two showpiece categories, Formula 1600 and Super Bikes (600cc) had qualifying rounds that saw Ashwin Sundar and Welsh champion David Jones on a Triumph grabbing pole positions, respectively.

India's top rider, Dilip Rogger came up with an impressive run to qualify third on the grid on a 2006-make borrowed Honda CBR (108bhp) that was considerably down on power compared to the machines of Jones and second placed Gavin Hunt.

The results:

Two-wheelers: Underbones 115cc: Race 1 (7 laps) - 1. Shyam Shankar (16mins, 55.065secs); 2. Sumit Lucas Toppo (16:55.398); 3. K Umesh Babu (16:57.243). Race 2 - 1. S Sarath Kumar (16:52.377); 2. Shyam Shankar (16:52.419); 3. Fahad Khan (16:59.946).

Group B (2-stroke, 165cc): 1. K Umesh Babu (15:19.691); 2. S Rajkumar (15:19.927); 3. S Murali (15:20.312). Group D (4-stroke, 165cc): 1. Sriskandarajah (15:35.017); 2. Shyam Shankar (15:35.093); 3. Sumit Lucas Toppo (15:35.273).

Touring Cars (6 laps - Race 1): Super Saloons (cc to weight): 1. Sailesh Boliseti (13:21.316); 2. Nithin S Ravindran (13:25.541); 3. Bhuvaraghavan (13:26.297). Race Star Cup: 1. B Balavijay (14:04.333); 2. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (14:09.478); 3. Vignesh Devarajan
(14:13.064).

Qualifying results:

Formula 1600: 1. Ashwin Sundar (1:42.122); 2. Arjun Balu (1:43.874); 3. Amer Beg (1:44.484).

Two-wheelers: Superbikes (600cc): 1. David Jones (1:45.991); 2. Gavin Michale Hunt (1:49.544); 3. Dilip Rogger (1:51.178). 165cc (Group D, 4-Stroke): 1. Shyam Shankar (2:12.367); 2. Sriskandarajah (2:12.404); 3. Sumit Lucas Toppo (2:13.178). Group B (2-Stroke): 1. S Murali (2:10.589); 2. S Rajkumar (2:11.285); 3. S Deepan (2:11.397).

Touring Cars - Super Saloons (cc to weight): 1. Sailesh Bolisetti (2:02.629); 2. Nithin S Ravindran (2:12.679); 3. Madhumithaa Rao (2:13.437). Race Star Cup: 1. B Balavijay (2:20.140); 2. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (2:20.386); 3. Vignesh Devarajan (2:21.336).