GULF MONSOON RALLY
Plenty of slushy action at the rally near Mumbai
AAT THE ONSET OF the monsoons every year, one of India’s most active motorsport clubs, Sportscraft, holds its annual rally for scooters on the outskirts of Mumbai. In its 27th edition, the Gulf Monsoon Scooter Rally is quite popular in the western part of the country thanks to the active involvement of Gulf Lubricants.
The 2016 edition saw 53 participants taking to the course filled with mud and slush. The heavy showers just days prior to the event, made the course all the more difficult for the riders to negotiate.
Shamim Khan looked forward to a record fifth win in the event aboard his Mahindra Gusto. But he was thwarted in his attempts by TVS Racing’s Syed Asif Ali who won the event astride his TVS Wego. Ali had garnered the least penalty points amounting to 32.43 seconds, a second less than Shamim. Navi Mumbai’s Erimal Shekharan finished third on a Yamaha Alpha with penalties accumulating to 34.18 seconds.
Former rally winners like Rustom Patel, Manjeet Singh Bassan and Avtar Singh faced troubled times, none of them finishing in the top five. Nidhi Shukla was the best female rider with a penalty time of 45.20 seconds on a Honda Activa.
“This time the course was really tough, the slushy areas forcing us to slow down. It didn't rain heavily during the race but it was still challenging,” said Syed Asif Ali after the event.