The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Naren-Ramkumar duo triumphs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 09, 2004

Sport

Sport - Racing : Motor

Naren-Ramkumar duo triumphs

BANGALORE, AUG. 8. Winning has become a habit for this soft-spoken person from Coimbatore. He has steered Esteems, Hondas and even the switch to the Baleno in this rally has not affected him much. Naren and co-driver D. Ramkumar eased off a bit on the final day but still had enough to spare when cruising to a victory in the K-1000. There was a stiff fight for the second and third places and Karandeep Singh from Chandigarh and co-driver Jaidas Menon from Bangalore nosed out Vikram Mathais (Sujith Kumar) for the runner-up slot.

The final day's rally was run twice over the first special stage. The second stage had already been cancelled on the first day. Arjun Balu trailing Naren by 23 seconds on the first day copped out with a broken strut and it was thus left to Karandeep (also a team mate) to offer some challenge to Naren. The stage was fast and Naren did not go flat out as all the good work was done on the first day itself. "This is the first time we're driving the Baleno in a rally. We need some time to get used to the car. But I'm happy with the way she's run. After running the car in two or three rallies we will be much more confident,'' Naren said. There was a four second lead at the end of the rally as Karandeep made up some ground. But it was Vikram Mathais and Sujith Kumar also in a Baleno that clocked one second more than Karandeep to end up a close third.

In the 1400 cc class overnight leader Prithveen (PVS Murthy) who held on to win. Arjun Rao Aroor (Chandra Chinappa) and Philipose Mathais (Ashwin Naik) ended up with the same timings (45.41) but Arjun Rao was declared second with more stage wins to his credit.

In the Rally Star Cup, Sanjay Aggarwal came up with another fine showing to clinch the title. Sanjay is a seasoned rallyist and he had a fair lead over Chetan Shivram in his category.

Tyagu Valliappa dropped out of the rally on the second day.

The results:

INRC ( 1600 cc): 1. Naren Kumar/D. Ramkumar (Baleno) 43.32; 2. Karandeep Singh/Jaidas Menon (Baleno) 44.28; 3. Vikram Mathias/Sujith Kumar (Baleno) 44.29.

1400: 1. Prithveen/PVS Murthy (Esteem) 45.34; 2. Arjun Rao Aroor/ Chandra Chinappa (Esteem) 45.41; 3. Philipose Mathias/ Ashwin Naik (Esteem) 45.41.

Rally Star Cup: 1. Sanjay Aggarwal/ Chandramouli (Esteem) 48.36; 2. Chetan Shivram/Srikarunaya (Esteem) 49.22; 3. Rajesh Gadakh/ Paritosh Kahak (Esteem) 50.03.

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