By Anand Philar, IANS,
Coimbatore : For a man pushing 50 and father of two, Chandrasekaran Rajaram put competitors half his age to shame with a stunning win in the premium Formula Rolon-Chevrolet class in the second round of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship here Sunday.
Although Rajaram, in his 23rd year of racing failed to finish the next race following a broken drive shaft when in second position behind the eventual winner Rayomand Banajee, his performance undoubtedly was the talking point of the afternoon that otherwise fell rather flat.
In fact, Rajaram drove a near-flawless race the first time around starting from fourth position as he passed pole-sitter Sarosh Hataria, who subsequently made a vain attempt to retake his position before retiring with mechanical problems.
The races in the Formula LGB Swift class provided plenty of action with favourite Ashwin Sundar of Ram’s Racing having a disastrous afternoon. He finished the first race third behind Saran Vikram and Karthik Shankar. In the next outing, he collided into Karthik leading to retirement and the race was red flagged and re-started.
In the bargain, Saran Vikram swept to victory in both the races to cap a fruitful day that also underlined his abundant talent.
Meanwhile, the saloon car category witnessed a huge field that includes vehicles running in two classes – the Super Saloon (modified) and Race Star Cup (stock) – and produced some drama with several vehicles making contact and involved in much jostling for track positions.
Veteran Radha Selvaraj’s experience came in handy as he took the first race and then trailed Siddharth Kishore in the next run.
The biggest disappointment was the races for the Super Bikes that had to endure a wet track. The competition was virtually non-existent with the riders too intent on finishing the races without mishap. Also, the absence of two of India’s top riders, Dilip Rogger and K Rajini was rather conspicuous as Praveen Kirthi and Mazar took the honours in the 600cc and 1000cc classes, respectively.
The results:
Formula Rolon-Chevrolet: Race 1 (15 laps): 1. Chandrasekaran.Rajaram (17mins, 27:01secs); 2. Saran Vikram (17:32:406); 3. Saahil Shelar (17:37:848). Race 2: 1. Rayomand Banajee (17:45:208); 2. Saahil Shelar (17:45:247); 3. Steve Hodges (18:04:850).
Formula LGB Swift: Race 1 (15 laps): 1. Saran Vikram (18:10:422); 2. Karthik Shankar (18:11:513); 3. Ashwin Sundar (18:25:185). Race 2 (13 laps): 1. Saran Vikram (15:38:141); 2. Karthik Shankar (15:38:835); 3. Rayomand Banajee (15:55:558).
Super Bikes – 600cc: Race 1 (10 laps): 1. Praveen Keerthi (12:13:329); 2. Poncho Gopinath (12:49:984); 3. Sandeep (13:05:118). Race 2 (6 laps): 1. Praveen Keerthi (8:17:576); 2. Poncho Gopinath (9:04:270); 3. Ameen Nawaz Khan (8:38:723).
1000cc – Race 1 (10 laps): 1.Mazar (12:47:155); 2. Bharath (13:05:635); 3. Alok (13:27:272). Race 2 (6 laps): 1. Mazar (8:49:24 2); 2. Alok (9:12:647); 3. Balaji (9:15:920).
Super Saloon cars: Race 1 (15 laps): 1. Radha Selvaraj (19:38:442); 2. Siddharth Kishore (19:53:895); 3. Sivaramakrishnan (19:55:995). Race 2 (15 laps): 1. Siddharth Kishore (19:44:779); 2. Radha Selvaraj (19:45:256); 3. Sivaramakrishnan (20:07:745).
Race Star Cars – Race 1(15 laps): 1. Mazdayar Vatcha (20:33:4); 2. Prithveen Rajan (20:38:9); 3. Byram Godrej (20:43:3). Race 2 (15 laps): 1. Mazdayar Vatcha (20:36:995); 2. Prithveen Rajan (20:32:998); 3. Praveen (20:53:288).