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Sweet double for Ashwin

Sports Reporter

Sudarshana wins Formula LGB Swift class

— Photo: M. Periasamy

PUPIL AND THE MASTER: Ashwin Sundar of Speed NK Racing, who clinched a grand double in the Formula Rolon class, poses with Narain Karthikeyan.

Coimbatore: Speed NK Racing’s Ashwin Sundar completed a grand double by winning the second race of the Formula Rolon class in a commanding manner in the third round of the JK Tyre National racing championship, which concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway in Chettipalayam, near here, on Sunday.

With the car running into mechanical problems on Saturday there were quite a few, including Narain Karthikeyan, who doubted its chances of winning. It did bother Ashwin as well at the start. But the Chennai youngster fought the odds in a brave manner to win the race hands down.

“Frankly speaking, I was afraid whether the car would be ready for the race. Thankfully, the mechanics did a great job. And, Ashwin compensated well with some brilliant driving,” said Narain soon after the race.

Ashwin was equally happy. “The guys who worked on the car stayed awake till the early hours of the day. I wish to thank each one of them personally.”

He admitted that his car ran into a few problems towards the end. “The road looked smooth at the halfway mark. But, with barely three laps to go, I could sense some trouble as the temperature was beginning to shoot up. So, I decided to drive safe and bring the car home safely.”

Dream start

Team TVS Girling’s Sudarshana Rao was at his roaring best in the Formula LGB Swift class. The Bangalore boy got off to a start most drivers dream of and built a huge lead to win the race by a handsome margin.

Chennai’s Ajay Kini was quite happy to finish second but was later disqualified for overtaking when the yellow flag was out. And, that opened the doors for R. Deepak and last year’s junior cup champion Gokul Krishna of Wallace Sports to move up the ladder for the next two places respectively.

‘Big Chief’ on a song

The Super Saloon class turned out to be exciting as well with veteran racer and local star B. Vijayakumar (‘Big Chief’) powering his way past a packed field for his second successive win.

Much was expected from the experienced Radha Selvarajan. He did put up a good fight at the start but lost his way midway through to clinch the third spot.

Sailesh Bolisetti of Vishakapatnam took everybody by surprise by finishing a creditable second.

The results:

Formula Rolon: Race 2 (15 laps): 1. Ashwin Sundar 17:20:912; 2. Saran Vikram 17:30:958; 3. M. Gaurav Dalal 17:40:583.

Formula Swift: Race 2 (15 laps): 1. Sudarshana Rao 18:16:145; 2. R. Deepak 18:31:502; 3. Gokul Krishna 18:47:224.

Super bikes (600cc expert): Race 2 (10 laps): 1. Emmanuel Jebaraj 11:55:319; 2. Vivek Pillai 12:02:319; 3. Praveen Keerthi 12:22:187.

Super bikes (600 cc novice): Race 2 (10 laps): 1. Sumit Lucas 12:17:921; 2. K.V. Balaji 12:20:446; 3. Alisha Abdullah 11:58:369 (one lap less).

Super bikes (1000cc): Race 2: 1. Alok Sashidhar 12:54:897; 2. Sanjay Kumar 13:06:156; 3. Prakash Murari 12:17:486.

Saloon cars: Race 2 (15 laps): 1. B. Vijaya Kumar 19:00119; 2. Sailesh Bolisetti 19:10:104; 3. Radha Selvarajan 19:16:843.

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