Mumbai’s Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing) displayed superior race strategy to win the Senior Max category at the 11th JK Tyre National Rotax Max Karting third round at Kolhapur, and assumed first position in the championships points table on Sunday.
He started the final in third place, surged to the front when leader Chittesh Mandody (Mohite Racing Academy) broke a tyre rod, and led right through the 20-lap race.
Following the leader was team-mate Nayan Chatterjee and Vishnu Prasad (Meco Racing) in the second and third positions. Mohite Racing Academy’s Dhruv Mohite settled for fourth place after a superb pre-final race when he moved from 11th to second place.
Bafna leads the points tally with 109, followed by Dhru (100) and Vishnu (99).
“We came early to get accustomed to the track. It helped and I hope to continue preparing in the same way in the remaining rounds,” said the Senior Max champion.
Kush Maini (Dark Don Racing) raced at a different level, compared to Ricky Doninson (BPC Racing) and Aaroh Ravindra (Rayo Racing) in Junior Max category. His command over the course left the other two fighting for second and third positions.
The former leads the overall points tally with 115 points, a gritty Ravindra second (106) and Akash Gowda third (102).
“Ricky put a lot of pressure on me during the race and is a tough driver. I was able to maintain my position,” said the Junior Max winner.
The first final at the Mohite Racing Academy circuit in the Micro Max category saw fans treated to thrilling stuff. Bangalore’s Paul Francis (Meco Racing) stunned leader Yash Aradhya on the last corner of the final lap to emerge victor. Third round results(top five): Senior Max (20 laps): Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing) 18:03.688; Nayan Chatterjee (Rayo) 18:04.401; Vishnu Prasad (Meco Racing) 18:05.034; Dhruv Mohite (Mohites Racing) 18:05.606; Krishnaraaj Mahadik (Mohites Racing) 18:06.545.
Junior Max (18 laps): Kush Maini (Dark Don Racing) 16:02.882; Ricky R. Donison (BPC) 16:04.197; Aaroh Ravindra (Rayo) 16:18.464; Akash Gowda (Meco) 16:18.540; Mira Erda (Dark Don) 16:24.020.
Micro Max (12 laps): Paul Francis (Meco Racing) 11:58.984; Yash Aradhya (Meco) 11:59.219; Shahan Ali Mohsin (Meco) 12:02.263; Chirag Ghorpade (BPC) 12:03.363; Arjun Nair (Meco) 12:03.556.
