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Kerala Rally and Kochi's David
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The Kerala Rally may have lost a lot of its glamour this time but work has already begun to help it back to its old glory next year, says STAN RAYAN
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Kerala Auto Sports Club's O.G. Sunil, Appu Kurien and Sangeeth Kumar.
FROM THE glamorous Marine Drive to the narrow roads of congested Thammanam is a long way. A big change too. It also aptly sums up the changing scene in Kerala's biggest annual motorsport event, the Popular Rally, which was run as the Kerala Rally this week.
Just three years ago, Popular Rally was hailed as the biggest success story in the national circuit. For the event was sponsored by Popular Automobiles for 19 years, the longest support streak in Indian rally history.
In the early years, the rally was run with a lot of fanfare from the breezy Marine Drive. But without a sponsor, this year's edition, which flagged off from the DD Retreat in Thammanam, was a rather low-key affair. But despite the financial worries, the organisers - the Kerala Auto Sports Club (KASC) - pulled off a fairly decent show, though the absence of a crowd on the rally route should be a major cause for concern.
The three leading men behind the show - the Rally Chairman O. G. Sunil, Clerk-of-the-course Sangeeth Kumar and the KASC secretary Appu Kurien - had reason to smile at the nicely arranged awards function at the Casino Hotel. For Mr. John K. Paul of Popular Automobiles had sounded that his company could be back as a sponsor next year.
"Next year, it will be a big affair,'' assured O. G. Sunil, a top rallyist a few years ago. "And the indications are that the JK Tyres (which made the Indian scene lively a few years ago with their keen rivalry with the current rally heavyweight MRF) could be back in the circuit. Talks are already on,'' said OG, as he is popularly known.
"Frankly speaking, without JK, there is no excitement in the rally scene these days. You can say nearly fifty per cent of the fun is gone,'' said OG. Over the last few years, the Kerala Auto Sports Club has gained a reputation as a top organiser of rallies in the country. Two years ago, the KASC was even invited to organise the Goa Rally. And just a few days ago, the Kochi-based club has been invited to organise the Oman National Rally in Muscat.
Renjith Paul did Kochlites proud
"I will be going to Oman this month to firm up plans for the Oman Rally which will be held in January 2004. And we could even have some of the top Indian teams taking part because Oman has a lot of Indians living there,'' said OG.
Among the local drivers, Kochi's Renjith Paul stood out, like a little David among the Goliaths. His Maruti 800, the only one at the event, was the baby of the rally, in a world of the powerful Honda Cities and Esteems. Renjith drove creditably too and finished third in the 800-1400cc class.
The youngster, son of abusinessman and former State athlete E. M. Paul, was in his school's cricket, football and athletic teams a few years ago but moved into motorsport after competing in small dirt track races at Panangad and in Alappuzha.
"I once won a prize in a Maruti 800 at Panangad during my 12th standard summer vacations and then decided to concentrate on motorsport,'' said Renjith, who hails from Kothamangalam.
Renjith had his first taste of the national circuit at the Indian Rally in Bangalore last December. "Since it was a stony, rock-strewn track, the organisers were not very keen on having me there with my little Maruti. But I went on to finish fourth inthe 1400 cc class,'' said the 19-year-old Renjith, a second year Hotel Management student at the Loyola College in Chennai who has Anoop C. Xavier (HIET, Chennai) as his co-driver. Renjith now looks for a sponsor who would fuel his thirst for bigger things.
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