The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Lucky pole for Audumber Hede

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Sunday, Oct 14, 2007
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Sport - Racing : Motor

Lucky pole for Audumber Hede

Principal Correspondent

NEDUMBASSERY: Thrills and spills marked the MRF-MAI National karting championship season-opener at the Cochin International Airport circuit here on Saturday.

At the end of the day, Goa’s Audumber Hede took a lucky pole in the premier event, the World Formula Class for seniors while defending champion Ameya Walavalkar will start second in the grid on Sundayt.

Though Mumbai’s Abbas Ghadialy (Speed Rayo Racing) won both the qualifying races, he was docked 10 seconds for nearly pushing fellow-driver Ashutosh Kale into the tyres while taking the opening corner in the second race.

It cost Abbas the pole and sent him down to the eighth spot on the grid.

Harsh penalty

“The penalty was too harsh. The driver involved himself admits it’s a racing incident, so the verdict is too harsh,” said Rayomand Banajee, the Speed Rayo Racing owner, who will start third.

Bangalore’s Nikhil Kashyap will start on pole in the World Formula Juniors class with 13-year-old Pune girl Abha Mankar producing a big surprise by beating many boys and finishing third in the event.

Kochi’s Daniel Kiem will head the pack in the cadet class (8-11 years) which makes its debut this season while Mumbai’s Mithlesh Jain led the ladies class, also a new event, with her city-mate Suhail Sabharwal topping the KCT class, a non-medallists’ event.

The new street track, a bit bumpy on one corner, saw a couple of carts overturning in the cadet class but fortunately both the local boys involved in the incident went home without much worry.

Qualifying results:

World Formula Seniors (15 years and above): 1. Audumber Hede (Goa), 2. Ameya Walavalkar (Mumbai), 3. Rayomand Banajee (Mumbai).

World Formula Juniors (12-15 years): 1. Nikhil Kashyap (Bangalore), 2. Chitiesh Mandody (Kohlapur), 3. Abha Mankar (Pune).

Cadet class (8-11 years): Daniel Kiem (Kochi), 2. Dhruva Mohite (Kolhapur), 3. P. Sruthik (Chennai).

KCT class: 1. Suhail Sabharwal (Mumbai), 2. Kartik Shankar (Delhi), 3. K. Rajesh (Bangalore).

Ladies: 1. Mithilesh Jain (Mumbai), 2. Sneha Sharma (Mumbai), 3. Malini Chakravarti (Kolkata).

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