Noah upstages Natraj
National Supercross championship leader Harith Noah broke the monopoly of his team mate and defending champion R. Natraj in his first attempt this season in the 2W Rally championship, in the fifth and penultimate round of the MRF MoGrip FMSCI National two- wheeler rally championship, in Coimbatore.
Riding the powerful TVS RTR 450, Noah tied with team mate Abdul Wahid Tanveer clocking 47 minutes 33 seconds forcing the organisers to apply tie- break rule in the challenging event set around the wind farms bear Kethanur area.
Noah had clocked the fastest time in Stage 1, which earned him the title and the Shoranurbased rider was declared winner.
The stages stretched to a total distance of 111.11- km with the Special Stages covering 56- km. This time around, unlike last year, there were two Special Stages — the Black Thunder Stage ( 14.85- km) and the Thunder World Stage ( 14.45- km).
Nataraj, who won all four opening rounds in his Superbike Pro Expert Class, but for Rajendra RE upstaging him in Pune for the overall title, came overall third in a time of 49 minutes 09 seconds.
Pune- based Pinkesh Thakkar upstaged the applecart of TVS Racing’s Asif Ali by winning the Scooter class for Aprilia Racing on his Aprilia SR150.
Palakkad- based Fazeela U. won the ladies title in the absence of the championship leader Aishwarya Pissay, who took break after sustaining an injury.