By IANS
Chennai : Teenager Ashwin Sundar yet again underlined his versatility with three podium finishes in two classes as the first round of the JK Tyre National Racing championship kick-started the 2008 motor sports season here Sunday.
Making his debut in the Formula Rolon-Chevrolet class, Ashwin, the 18-year-old from Chennai, won the first race with a command performance and finished third in the next round for which the grid was reversed for the top six finishers of the previous outing.
Through the eight laps of the first race, Ashwin kept his lead with some quality driving to hold off a persistent Saahil Shelar, from Mumbai, who has been among the top Formula racers in domestic competition for the past couple of seasons.
In the second race, Ashwin started from sixth position as the grid was reversed. In the event, he cut through the field at the start but could not find a way past the experienced and much older Gaurav Dalal.
Ashwin is a born two-wheeler racer, but that has not stopped him from entering Formula racing. In 2007, he won two of the three classes (Formula Swift and Formula Hyundai) and this season, graduated to the Formula Rolon-Chevrolet category, and has straightaway made his mark.
In the Formula Swift class, he again enjoyed a fruitful weekend, winning the first race hand down and then finishing fourth starting from sixth position. He spun at the first corner in his anxiety to make places, later made up the lost ground but could not finish any higher than fourth.
On Saturday that was marred by heavy, unseasonal rains, Ashwin along with Saran Vikram won the newly introduced Enduro race in a Formula Hyundai. The event, originally planned for 90 minutes, was cut to 65 in view of the rain-induced backlog.
Saturday also witnessed chaotic scenes at the track with the schedule going haywire on account of rains with the day’s programme ending in twilight.
Meanwhile, saloon car racing, re-introduced after a two-year lapse, was rather flat in terms of competition. The event was a mix-and-match affair with regular saloon cars competing against full-blown modified machines in the power-to-cc category. The grid was full of veteran, middle-aged drivers who used their vast experience to walk away with the honours.
The Super Bikes race too was rather disappointing as Dilip Rogger, the Asia GP rider, facing no worthwhile competition with most other riders on machines that were far from being in racing trim.
The results:
Formula Rolon-Chevrolet (8 laps): Race 1 – Ashwin Sundar 1 (15mins, 03:025secs); Saahil Shelar 2 (15:03:768); M. Gaurav 3 (15:08:094). Race 2: Saran Vikram 1 (14:56:867); Gaurav Dalal 2 (15:05: 649); Ashwin Sundar 3 (15:08:617).
Formula LGB Swift (8 laps): Race 1- Ashwin Sundar 1 (15:41:306); Karthik Shankar 2 (15:44:182); Saran Vikram 3 (15:49:163). Race 2: Saran Vikram 1 (15:40:325); Karthik Shankar 2 (15:44:548); Sudanand Rajan 3 (15:49:143).
Super Bikes (600cc): Race 1 (8 laps) – Dilip Rogger 1 (16:16:8); Preetham Dev Moses 2 (16:29:4); Praveen Keerthi 3 (16:49:5). Race 2: Praveen Keerthi 1 (16:15:298); Rohit Giri 2 (16:31:079); Anand Dharmaraj 3 (16:36:213). Experts: Dilip Rogger 1 (15:09:946); Preetham Dev Moses 2 (15:20:236); K. Rajini 3 (16:15:298).
Super Bike – 1,000 cc: Race 1 (8 laps): K Rajini 1 (17:14:3); Vikram V. 2 (17:29:9); Deepak 3 (18:19:4). Race 2: Deepak 1 (16:49:820); Mazdar Ahmed 2 (16:50:373).
Super Saloon cars (6 laps): Race 1 – Radha Selvaraj 1 (13:21:625); S. Sivakumar 2 (13:22:968). Race 2: Siddarth Kishore 1 (13:12:297); S. Sivakumar 2 (13:14:125); 3 Radha Selvaraj 3 (13:19:922).
Race Star Cup (6 laps): Race 1 – Deepak Chinnappa 1 (14:15:000); Vatcha Mazdayar 2 (14:16:406). Race 2: Deepak Chinnappa 1 (14:14:406); Vatcha Mazdayar 2 (14:15:250); Bhuvaragavan 3 (15:02:547).