He looked dazed and dizzy at the start but once on the RTR450 bike and the dusty terrain R.E. Rajendra of Team TVS Racing mesmerised all with his daring run to emerge the overall winner of the fifth round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship MRF MOGRIP 2W Rally of Coimbatore in Kethanur, near Palladam, on Sunday.
Rajendra started the season with a bang but went out of control in the last two rounds. His teammate Abdul Wahid Tanveer cashed in on the chance and moved to the top of the table. He was expected to further widen the gap at the top, but Rajendra, despite the odds, was there to deny him.
Rajendra enjoyed a five-second edge over Tanveer after the first two stages. The latter fought back in the final stretch but it was a bit too late.
“The stages were stretchy with some sharp corners and hard patches and I played it safe all the way,” said an utterly exhausted Rajendra.
Championship leader Tanveer was obviously disappointed. “I was going good in the final two stages till about 13km but, unfortunately, I had a bad fall. It was a long stretch followed by a tight corner. I went full throttle, misread it and soon was off the track and into a pit. It proved very costly.”
Winner of the Ladies Class Aishwarya Pissay was thrilled. “It ran with clockwork precision without any delay, and the hospitality was outstanding,” she said about the event.
She was all the more pleased with the terrain. “Coimbatore is always one of the best rounds because of the long terrains (17km). It is close to an actual rally. The earlier four rounds were demanding because of the rain, the slush and the muck, but I am happy we finally had a dry and fast race,” she said.
Local lad Kalimohan clinched the Star of Tamil Nadu award for his splendid show. He finished overall ninth with a timing of 59:51s.
MRF District Manager Deeban gave away the prizes.
The results (provisional): Class 1 (Super bike Pro Expert A): 1. R.E. Rajendra (TVS Racing) 00:53:17.424s; 2. Abdul Wahid Tanveer (TVS Racing) 00:53:47.474s; 3. R. Nataraj (TVS Racing) 00:55:56.490 .
