Chennai’s Ashwin Datta bogged down a bit at the start but thereafter played it smart and safe to steal the show in the Euro JK 18, the premier class of the 21st JK Tyre FMSCI National racing championship on Saturday.
One expected the battle to be pretty intense between Ashwin and pole sitter Nayan Chatterjee, the top two contenders on the championship chart. But the latter had the big challenge coming in from Karthik Tharani. Karthik was the first to come out nicely from a rather tricky first corner in the first race. Nayan worked a bit from behind. He waited for the right time to make that clever overtaking move. He even managed to do that in the fourth lap but Karthik quickly shut the door on him and, with it, shunted the Mumbaikar’s chances of finishing the race.
Grabbing the chance
Ashwin grabbed the chance, quickly moved from the outside to take the lead and later the chequered flag. The victory saw Ashwin hold on to his slender lead in the table.
With the reverse grid for the top six coming into play in the second race, Yash Aradhya started on pole. He built a healthy lead but slipped out of contention midway through due to another minor collision. And, this time around, Karthik cashed in on the chance to clinch the race.
Delhi’s Rohit Khanna did one better than the rest in the Formula LGB4 class, while Chennai’s Joseph Mathew continued with his winning run in the Suzuki Gixxer Cup. For the latter, it was his fifth straight race win. Malsawmdawngliana and Sachin Chaudhary finished for the next two places.
The results: Euro JK 18: Race 1 : 1. Ashwin Datta (Chennai) 15:38.306; 2. S. Karthik Tharani (Chennai) 15:42.598; 3. Brayan Perera (Sri Lanka) 15:42.829.
Race 2: 1. Karthik Tharani; 2. Nirmal Uma Shankar; 3. Nayan Chatterjee.
Formula LGB4: 1. Rohit Khanna (Dark Don Racing) 23:28.307; 2. Sandeep Kumar (Dark Don) 23:28.592; 3. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) 23:29.337.
Gixxer Cup: 1. Joseph Mathew 12:36.577; 2. Malsawmdawngliana 12:41.202; 3. Sachin Chaudhary 12:44.210.
