Founded in 1975, the Jaipur Motorcycle Club is widely regarded as the birthplace of motocross in India. To celebrate the birth anniversary of its founder, John Singh, the club recently organised the first edition of the John Singh Festival of Speed on February 14-15, in partnership with Motorex and Big Bad Bikes.
Held at Nayla near Jaipur, which is not far from where the Jaipur Motorcycle Club’s journey began, the two-day event featured multiple disciplines of off-road racing, including dirt-track racing, motocross and even a four-hour endurance race. Fifty-four riders from across the country participated in the event, and Hero Motocorp even fielded its factory riders.
- 54 riders from across India participated
- Dhritiman Singh scored dominant wins
John Singh Festival of Speed results
John Singh Festival of Speed: Dirt Track
Dhritiman Singh dominated in the Dirt Track Foreign class, taking overall victory ahead of Hero MotoSports’s Karan Kumar and privateer Yoshva Lobo.
The competition was tougher in the Indian Expert class, with both Hero riders Karan Kumar and Kathirol Senthilkumar battling it out for top honours. Kumar eventually defeated his teammate, while veteran racer M Saeed completed the podium in third place.
Senthilkumar bounced back in the Novice class, though, taking victory ahead of Rohit Chauhan and Abhay Singh.
John Singh Festival of Speed: Motocross
Just like in the Dirt Track races, Singh was unbeatable in the Motocross Foreign Class as well. Behind him, Hero’s Kumar and Senthilkumar again went head-to-head, with Kumar once again bagging the second place.
The Indian Expert class also witnessed a handlebar-to-handlebar fight between Kumar and Senthilkumar, this time with Senthilkumar gaining the upper hand to take victory. Another close battle for third place ended with Santosh Vishnoi taking the final podium place ahead of Tahir Gaur.
The racing was just as close in the Novice Class with Shravan Shekhawat and Chauhan engaged in a race-long battle. Shekhawat emerged as the winner, ahead of Chauhan and Ishan Singh.
John Singh Festival of Speed: Endurance race
The headlining event was a four-hour-long off-road endurance race. Team Blue took victory after completing 151 laps. Team Green finished five laps behind in second place, while Team Red finished another four laps adrift in third place.
Following the conclusion of the inaugural John Singh Festival of Speed, organisers shared plans to turn this into an annual event. “We believe John Da would be proud of the event, the racing and our effort to rebuild Indian off-road racing into the grassroots motorsport event that it has always been,” an official statement said.
