Pune, Apr 14 (PTI) Fifteen-time national motorcycle drag racing champion Hemanth Muddappa of Mantra Racing stunned 13-time world champion Ricky Gadson of USA at The Valley Run 2025, clocking a blistering 9.477 seconds astride a BMW S1000rr, at the Aamby Valley strip near here.
The African-American drag racing icon laid down a strong run at 9.756 seconds on a Gen3 Hayabusa, but it wasn’t enough to dethrone the reigning Indian of the strip.
The head-to-head showdown saw Muddappa emerge triumphantly and will go down in history as a defining moment in Indian drag racing.
“There’s a lot to learn from a 13-time world champion. Ricky is a legend of the sport. But it’s a very happy and humbling moment for me and my team, Mantra Racing as we beat him. And yes, these are our home tracks and we know them inside out. The infrastructure in the US and here is very different but that’s racing,” an elated Mudappa said.
The superbike category was packed with over 1,000 participants but it was Muddappa who stole the spotlight with both precision and power. PTI SSC SSC ATK
