Unbeaten Four for Joseph Matthew
The racers were back for another outing at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore, in the JK Tyre National Racing Championship. Along with the track temperature, the level of competition also shot up
t the end of the first round of the JK tyre fMsCi national racing Championship (JK tyre nrC), the defending Gixxer Cup champion, Joseph Matthew of Chennai, made a clean sweep of the races and posted himself on top of the points table. in the red Bull road to rookies Cup, Zothanmawia of Aizawl established his dominance and earned the top position in both the races. the second round did not turn out to be a piece of cake as they may have expected, though. this time, the competitors had improved their game and there were a few unexpected twists as well. GIXXER CUP
Race One for the first race of the weekend, onlookers may have thought that Joseph was not at his best due to his third-place start. Malsawmdawngliana (Aizawl) was the man on pole (1:23.209), starting just ahead of syed Muzamil Ali (Bengaluru). Joseph did not have much luck off the line either and had to watch his rivals surge ahead. however, he did make up places whenever he got the chance. syed was evidently at his best because he managed to fend off Joseph for a long time. on the penultimate lap, syed lost some
momentum when he slowed down at C1 (first corner) to overtake a few slow racers. Joseph grabbed the opportunity and overtook syed. the two rivals shot on to the main straight and zoomed to a wheel-to-wheel finish.
Joseph emerged the victor in that thrilling battle to complete a hat-trick victory. With a difference of a mere eight-thousandths of a second, syed had to settle for second place. Meanwhile, sachin Chaudhary (Ahmedabad) claimed third place.
Race Two
Podium finishers from the previous race took their respective positions for the start of the second race. Joseph got a good start but was closely tailed by syed throughout the race. syed looked determined to finish ahead of his rival this time and gave Joseph a run for his money. Closely behind the duo, Malsawmdawngliana also edged himself into the fight. At the end of 10 laps, Joseph once again fought off his competition and claimed the victory, registering a 100 per cent win at the end of the second round. Although syed’s hard work did not carry him to the top step, he managed to fight off Malsawmdawngliana and finished in second place. Malsawmdawngliana took the final step on the podium; he was only less than a second slower than the race leader.
the fastest man of the weekend was sanjeev Mhatre (Mumbai) with a time of 1:23.318. At the end of the second round, Joseph continues to
dominate with four out of four wins and 40 points to his name. his closest competitor is syed, who is 10 points behind him. Malsawmdawngliana is in the third spot with 21 points.
RED BULL ROAD TO ROOKIES
Race One
Jerome Vanlalrengpuia (Aizawl) was the fastest among the youngsters and earned himself pole position. right behind him were PC Andy Lalhmangaihsanga (Aizawl) and eshaan shankar (delhi) in second and third places respectively. Jerome would have achieved an effortless win, but his closest rival, Andy, kept him on his toes until the end of the race. Andy crossed the line in second place, over a second after Jerome took the victory (his first this season). Almost half a minute after the victor, eshaan crossed the finish-line to claim third place.
Race Two
After having to settle for second place in the previous race, Andy was determined to give it his all for the final race of the weekend. it was not easy because he had to fight off a strong challenge from Jerome but he managed to do it. towards the end of the race, Andy was clearly ahead of competition and cruised to his first victory this year. Jerome followed in second place and eshaan completed the podium. At 1.25.577, Andy was the fastest of the lot that weekend.
At the end of the second round, the tables have turned. Zothanmawia’s absence has allowed others to chalk up some points. Jerome and Andy share the top spot on the points table with 32 points apiece. they are followed by Zothanmawia and eshaan who have 20 points each.