Chennai trio rule the track on Day 1
The Chennai trio Karthik Tharani, Vishnu Prasad and Joseph Mathew ruled the opening day of the 21st JK Tyre national racing championship, winning their respective categories, at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Saturday. Besides the Chennai boys, the spotlight was on the allwomen’s team of Ahura Racing in their striking red cars and uniforms in their debut event.
Five of the six drivers eventually competed in the LGB 4 category, and looked impressive. Racing for the first time, Coimbatore’s Megaa K.S. beat the rest of the girls in an overall time of 18:09.051.
Pune’s Ritika Oberoi, a seasoned motorsports competitor, chased her all the way, taking a second longer to finish.
Meanwhile, Karthik claimed the first race in the 15-lap Euro JK 18 category in 18:03.844 seconds.
Nirmal Uma Shankar (Chennai) and Manav Sharma (Faridabad) took the other two places on the podium. Seasoned racer Vishnu (MSport) staved off a stiff challenge from Sandeep Kumar (Dark Don) and Raghul Rangasamy (also of MSport) to win the opening race in the LGB Formula 4. In the Suzuki Gixxer Cup, defending champion Matthew was at his imperious best, taking the first race of the season in 14:15.877 seconds. He was over three seconds faster than Aizawl’s Mal saw md awng li ana and Bengaluru’s Syed Muzamil Ali, who was a further three seconds behind.
The Red Bull Road to Rookies was once again dominated by the boys from the North East, with Zothanmawia and Andy Lalhmangaihsang taking the first two places. Jerome Vanlalrengpuia from Mizoram finished third. Race 2 of the Euro JK 18 could not take place on Saturday as scheduled due to a technical glitch. It will now take place on Sunday, when Round 1 concludes.
Karimnagar racer suffers multiple injuries
A 21-year-old bike racer from Karimnagar (Telangana) suffered multiple injuries after he crashed his vehicle during the second round of the national motorcycle racing championship here on Saturday. Prashanth Kumar, who represents Chennaibased Sparks Racing, was immediately rushed to the hospital where he is said to be in a “critical, but stable” conditions.
The combined race of Super Sport Indian and ProStock 165cc was reduced from six laps to four following the heavy crash before Turn-3 resulting in a red flag on the very first lap.