JK Tyre FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship – Round 5 – Day 1 Report

Hyderabad, Sept 3: Bangalore schoolboy Abhirath Shetty (Meco Racing) authored one of the better scripts of the day with a stunning win over favourite and championship leader Kush Maini (Maini Racing) in the fifth and final round of the JK Tyre–FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship, here on Saturday.

The 12–year old Abhirath, an eighth standard student of the BNM School, marked his presence in the Micro Max category with two podium finishes.

Abhirath was second behind 10–year old Kush, also from Bangalore, in the first pre–Final, but avenged the defeat in the second pre–Final that witnessed a very close contest among all the seven entrants.

Equally noteworthy was Mumbai schoolboy Jehan Daruvala´s performance in the Junior Max category where he won the first pre–Final pipping championship leader Arjun Maini (Maini Racing).

In the second pre–Final, Jehan of Rayo Racing spun when leading, dropped to sixth but eventually finished second behind Arjun after edging past Krishnaraj Mahadik (Mohite´s Racing) with a daring move on the inside at the last corner of the final lap.

"I was under pressure from Arjun and made a slight mistake, touched the tyre barrier and spun. Otherwise, I would have won the race. Thereafter, I put my head down as I was determined to finish in the top three," said Jehan.

In the senior Max category, Chennai teenager Vishnu Prasad (Meco Racing) and Rayo Racing´s Ameya Bafna shared the honours by winning the pre–Final 2 and 1, respectively.

Bafna was trifle fortunate to win the first outing when Prasad, running a close second, retired with a mechanical problem. However, in the second pre–final, it was Prasad from start to finish as he took the lead while Bafna went into a tyre barrier in his anxiety to pass the Chennai lad.

It left Championship leader Chittesh Mandody (Mohite´s Racing) to hold off Raj Bharath (Meco Racing) in a tight finish.