The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Double for Armaan, Gurunath and Gill

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 26, 2004

Sport

Sport - Racing : Motor

Double for Armaan, Gurunath and Gill

By Our Sports Reporter

COIMBATORE, APRIL 25. Armaan Ebrahim, Gurunath (both from Chennai) and Gaurav Gill (Delhi) beat the heat and their rivals to score a double victory each in Round two of the JK Tyre National Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway track in Chettipalayam, near Coimbatore, on Sunday.

The first race of the day, the Formula LGB, turned out to be the best in terms of sheer excitement. The start lights went on and off so fast that the frontrunners, including local favourite Raj Virdhan, took off a second or two late from the grid.

Armaan, the first round winner at Kolkata, who started last at the grid, quickly sneaked to the front along with Ameya Walavalkar of Mumbai. Ameya led the first few laps and quite soon sacrificed the position to Rayamond Banajee of Pune, who spun off at the V on lap 13. Grabbing on to the opportunity was Armaan, who dashed himself to the front to win the 15-lap race in 18:47.724 seconds.

Raj drove brilliantly from the eighth position to finish a creditable second, while Ameya paced steadily to claim the third spot.

Armaan, trained under Wai Leong, a four-time Malaysian karting champion, followed it up with a resounding win in Race 2 ahead of Raj and Raymond in 18:43.885 seconds.

In the Esteem Saloon class, pole position Gurunath was the master. He jumped into an early lead and maintained it right through to take the chequered flag in the 10-lap race. Radha Selvaraj and K.E. Kumar, after a long struggle, ended for the second and third positions respectively.

However, in the second round, Gurunath, after an excessive wheel spin, relegated himself to the third position on the first lap. But, on the sixth, he fought his way past Radha Selvaraj and J D Madan to score a golden double.

Racing of the highest order was witnessed in the Formula Maruti class. Reigning champion Gaurav Dalal was a fraction late at the start and that cost him an early lead. While Jigar led the first lap, it was Gill who took the lead in the very next lap. Thereafter it was a four-car train for most part of the race.

In the second round of the race, it was Dalal who shot into the lead. But he could only secure it till the sixth lap. And once Gill grabbed the position, the two fought well for the next six laps.

The lead changed hands close to four times and there was also some close dicing for the second to fifth positions, which had the crowd in the edge of their seats. Gill continued to ride splendidly to repeat his morning success.

In the Kari Motor Speedway Summer Open Challenge race for two wheelers, T. K. Vishwanath of Yamaha just managed to edge out Rajni of Team Airtel TVS Racing in the Group D 4 stroke 80cc to 110cc class, while in Race 2 it was Preetham Dev Moses of Team Airtel TVS Racing scoring a comfortable win over his rivals.

Rajni and Emmanuel Jebaraj of Team Airtel TVS Racing shared honours in the Group D 4 stroke 111cc to 160cc six-lap race, while M. Ganesh Prasad and Mansoor came good in the Group D 2 stroke 111cc to 160cc eight-lap race 1 and 2 respectively.

Muruganandan of Libra Racing and Senthil of Tectrac Racing scored a double each in the Group D 4 stroke 161cc to 250cc and Group C 2 stroke 111cc to 160cc respectively.

Results: Formula LGB (15 laps): Race 1: Armaan Ebrahim 18:47.724 secs, Raj Virdhan, Ameya Walavalkar. Race 2: Armaan 18:43.885, Raj Virdhan, Raymond Banajee.

Esteem Saloon (10 laps): Race 1: Gurunath M 13:44.242, Radha Selvaraj, K E Kumar. Race 2 (15 laps): Gurunath M 20:41.88, Radha Selvaraj, J D Madan.

Formula Maruti (15 laps): Race 1: Gaurav Gill 19:50.312, Gaurav Dalal, Jigar Muni. Race 2 (14 laps): Gaurav Gill 18:45.88, Jigar Muni, Gaurav Dalal.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport