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Tendulkar blazes the track too

By Our Sports Reporter

FOLLOW THE MASTER: Sachin Tendulkar sprays the bubbly as Dennis Lillee, Brian Lara and Steve Waugh get ready to follow suit after the race of the stars at the MRF Danny's karting track in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI JULY 6. It was a lesson in discipline for the young go-karters from a past master of a very different sport at the Danny's Karting track here.

Roped into the `race of the stars' fairly late, former Aussie paceman Dennis Lillee, who had missed the practice session attended by Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Steve Waugh (all MRF brand ambassadors) on Saturday, arrived at the venue 90 minutes early on Sunday for a long practice session on the 670-metre track.

It was Lillee's enthusiasm and the eight-lap race between the stars which set the tone and tenor of the first round of the MRF-MAI Formule Mondiale

Championship.

And when Tendulkar, who led right through, decided to slow down towards the end and wait for the other three for a simultaneous finish, the full-house crowd roared in appreciation.

``We are here to grace the occasion. Steve encountered engine problems (he had been second until then). One has to respect rivals. Had it not been for that things would have been different,'' said the Indian batting maestro.

S. Vikas of Chennai won the first event, the 10-kart grid 16-lap race for the Karting Champion's Trophy.

``I held pole, lost it at the first corner but regained it by the end of the lap and made no mistakes thereafter,'' said the 18-year-old Vikas, a first year student of St. Joseph's College of Engineering. It was Vikas' maiden Mondiale victory.

Bangalore's Vivek Bhatt finished second and Sanju Tharappan third.

Deepak Paul Chinnappa of Team Kadurs (Bangalore), second on the 10-kart grid, got off to a good start and held through the 20-lap race for the Indian National Karting Championship.

The 16-year-old, a first year Pre-University student at Oxford College, Bangalore, said, "the kart began to slide towards the end of the race. Moreover, I was pretty tense with the experienced Rayomand Banajee hot on my heels.'' Earlier, Abbas Ghadially, who held pole, crashed out in the sixth lap.

Chennai kids all the way

It was the Chennai kids all the way in the Kadet-Indian National Karting Championship (10-kart grid, 13 laps) with the promising young Ashwin Sunder, who held pole position, registering a fluent victory. Sunder, 13 years of age and studying in St. John's (Alwarthirunagar), was the defending champion.

Alisha, daughter of well-known rider R.A. Abdullah, came second and Ajay Kini third.

Mumbai's Jigar Muni clinched the Asia Zone National Karting Championship, the feature event.

The 20-year-old, who finished his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from SBMP, was second on the 12-kart grid (25 laps) but gained the lead by the third lap and maintained it till the end. Abbas Ghadially was second and K.V. Prakash third.

The results (finals):

Karting Champion's Trophy (16 laps): 1. S. Vikas (Chennai) 9m 54.664s; 2. Vivek Bhatt (Bangalore) 9:55.556; 3. Sanju Tharappan (Chennai) 9:56.124.

Indian National Karting Championship (20 laps): 1. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Team Kadurs, Bangalore) 12:49.876; 2. Rayomand Banajee (Pune, Team India Racing) 12:50.166; 3. Jigar Muni (Mumbai) 12:50.561.

Kadet-Indian National Karting Championship (13 laps): 1. Ashwin Sunder (Chennai, Team India Racing) 7:50.225; 2. Alisha Abdullah (Chennai) 7:56.832; 3. Ajay Kini (Chennai, Team India Racing) 7:57.919.

Asian Zone National Karting Championship (25 laps): 1. Jigar Muni (Mumbai, Ace Machines Racing) 14:33.537; 2. Abbas Ghadially (Mumbai, AMR) 14:41.099; 3. K.V. Prakash (Chennai) 14:41.197.

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