Round 1 of the 28th JK Tyre Racing Championship concluded at Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore on August 10, 2025, with Anish Shetty winning all three races in the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup and Bhuvan Bonu claiming victory in all JK Tyre Novice Cup races.
Shetty, a 30-year-old rider from Hubli who is settled in Bengaluru, dominated the motorcycle category over the weekend. Having started racing at age 15, Shetty secured a hat-trick of wins across Saturday and Sunday races. He finished the weekend with 30 points in the overall standings, well ahead of second-placed Kayan Zubin Patel from Mumbai with 19 points and defending champion Navaneeth Kumar with 12 points.
"It has been a fruitful weekend and all the hard work paid off," said Anish Shetty.
In the amateur category of the motorcycle races, Bryan Nicholas from Pondicherry swept all three races, accumulating 36 points. Johring Warisa from Umrangso placed second with 27 points, while Kabir Sahoch from Vadodara finished third with 18 points.
The JK Tyre Novice Cup saw 15-year-old Bhuvan Bonu from Bengaluru, who trains in the United States, win all three car races. His performance throughout the weekend left competitors Ojas Surve and Abhijit Vadavalli trailing in subsequent positions.
"I kept getting better and better. I enjoyed the weekend," said Bonu.
The Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup featured motorcycles weighing close to 200 kg, with races conducted under varying weather conditions. Saturday's sunny conditions gave way to different weather patterns on Sunday, testing riders' adaptability.
Race times in the professional motorcycle category showed Shetty's fastest lap recorded at 13:28.442 in the third race. In the car racing category, Bonu's winning times ranged from 13:59.719 in the first race to 14:54.313 in the final race, which was described as incident-filled.
The championship forms part of JK Tyre's motorsport initiatives, which have been promoting racing in India for nearly three decades. The company has previously supported drivers who reached Formula 1, including Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok.