CS Santosh’s BigRock Motorsports end the inaugural ISRL season in fine style, taking the 450-cc International, 250-cc International, and the 250-cc India-Asia mix titles
It’s safe to say that the action-packed first Season of the CEAT Indian Supercross Racing League (ISRL) ended on a high with rally veteran, CS Santosh’s team, BigRock Motorsports being crowned the first-ever champions of the league. And what better way to do it on their home turf in Bangalore with titles in the 450-cc International, 250-cc International, and the 250-cc India-Asia mix class.
Heading into the season finale, BigRock Motorsports had a 50-point cushion over Mohite’s Racing, but it was consistency that aided the team to win the overall team’s title by 82 points. BB Racing was third overall, with SG Speed Racers taking fourth position, Reise Motorsports in fifth, and Gujarat Trailblazers sixth overall.
Diving deeper into the achievements in the third and final round, the 450-cc International title went right down to the wire. Despite BB Racing’s Jordi Tixier taking a clean sweep of victories in both races as well as the All-star race, that one controversial DNF in the previous round proved costly, as Matt Moss limited the damage just enough to clinch the title by just four points for BigRock Motorsports.
In the 250-cc International class, it was Reid Taylor (BigRock Motorsports) playing the long game as well, with a fourth and third place finish enough to seal the championship, 15 points ahead of SG Speed Racer’s Hugo Manzato, who had won both races in the final round. And finally, in the 250-cc India-Asia mix class, Thanarat Penjan (BigRock Motorsports), after some fairly close racing up front, finished second in both races, enough to beat BB Racing’s Athison Ruadero, who won the final race, by 10 points.
Of course, how can we forget the kids in the 85-cc, two-stroke demo class, despite no championship points being awarded in this class. Like it was in Pune and Ahmedabad, the star of the show was undoubtedly Brian Gyles who dominated proceedings.
After a few initial hiccups regarding dates heading into the season, the inaugural CEAT Indian Supercross Racing League has finally gone through the chequered flag and it’s safe to say the turn out was a success. In fact, despite the last minute change of venue for the season finale, Veer Patel, ISRL co-founder claimed that over 8,000 spectators turned up, setting a new global record of the maximum physical representation for a Supercross event in the world.
With a successful first season for the ISRL, this could very well be the ideal platform to develop supercross talent from the grassroot level in India. The second season is sure to be bigger and better and we won’t have to wait too long for it as it is tentatively set to take place towards the end of 2024.
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