Team Gerrari Off-roaders Sanbir Dhaliwal (co-driver Gurupartap Singh) and Padam Chauhan (co-driver Maneet Sandhu) from Chandigarh tackled the ‘Showman Stage’ with aplomb to emerge the leader after the first stage on the opening day of the JK Tyre Orange 4x4 Fury off-roading event here on Thursday.
The JK event, which is part of the Orange Festival of Adventure and Music(OFAM), has attracted a good number of participants compared to the inaugural edition last year. Hosted in the breathtaking lower Dibang Valley’s quaint village (Dambuk), the four-day festival of high adrenalin adventure sports and music posed a huge challenge for even the most professional of drivers in the off-roading category.
But Team Gerrari had done their homework well and, quite deservedly finished on top. The Showman Stage turned out to be rough and tough with quite a few ditches (five-feet deep) to cross over. It required great understanding and co-ordination. A bit of planning, in terms of the placement of wooden planks, had to be done as well. And, the Gerrari men covered them all with ease much to the surprise of the large gathering of the local crowd.
“The stage basically tests the co-ordination between the driver and the co-driver, the sturdiness of the machines and the fitness levels of the participants. We had them all today. Also, it was more of fun and we enjoyed every bit of it,” said Sanbir, a lawyer by profession.
Defending champions Kabir Waraich and Gurpreet Virdi from the same team, however, failed to impress. My co-driver had cramps and was exhausted as well. We were also the first to be out for the day and everything overall cost us a bit,” said Kabir.
“What we did wrong our team-mates did it right for the day. But we are happy that the leader is from our team,” he quickly added. The participants, including six local teams of two each, will cover eight stages over three days and the team that stands the tricky and tough tests takes the honour.
The other events lined up for the OFAM show are Rock the River, Sineh on the Rocks, Artist of the Jungle, Bizari by de Swamp and Showman.
