Hyderabad: Round 2 of the 9th JK Tyre Rotax Max National Karting Championship concluded at the Kart Center, Lahari Resort in Hyderabad. The overcast skies and lower temperatures offered the perfect racing weather and the rains kept away too offering a nice dry track. These conditions allowed the racers to shed the cautious approach from yesterday allowing them to go out full throttle in the races that mattered - the Pre-final and Final.

The Micro Max category which was the most closely contested race in Round 1 was dominated by the only girl in the Championship - Mira Erda (Team Maini Racing). A stellar performance in the Pre-final got her the pole for the Final, but a technical infringement meant she started the race from the back of the grid. However she managed to clear the drivers in front of her in the first lap, and overtook the leader Pradyumn Danigod (Team Mohites Racing) in lap two. She managed to hold onto the lead right till the end winning with a margin of over 3 seconds with a best lap time of the race at 33.594 seconds. HB Phaneesh (Team Mohites Racing) who had a minor incident during Round 1 of the championship made a great comeback to finish third at the end of Round 2

Talking about the race, Mira said: "I am very happy with my performance in the second round, our team has been working very hard and I am glad that it is showing result. As we go into the third round, I hope to continue this form and perform as well."

In the Junior Max category, the day began with Dhruv Mohite (Team Mohites Racing) and Krishnaraj Mahadik (Team Rayo Racing) sharing the pole for the Pre-final. As the day preceded Kush Maini (Team Maini Racing) proved his mettle by finishing first in both the Pre-final and the Final. The Final race however was a very close affair with Nayan Chatterjee (Team Rayo Racing) biting at his heels all through the race. The best action of the race was reserved for the last lap when Nayan managed to sneak in front of Kush at the second turn, but not before a brilliant move by Kush at the last corner got him back in the first place which he held on to on the last straight all the way to the chequered flag beating Nayan by a mere 0.098 seconds. Arya Gandhi (Team Rayo Racing) who started the race from last position raced exceedingly well to finish a respectable third in the Final race.

Kush, speaking about his performance said: "I had a good beginning to Round 2 of the championship with a good performance in the Qualifying and Heat 1. A bad Heat 2 cost me a good position for the Pre-final where I began fourth, however I managed to finish first and get pole position in the Final. Nayan did give me a few nervous moments in the Final, but I am glad I finished first."

The race weekend in the Senior Max category was all about defending champion Chittesh Mandody (Team Mohites Racing), he dominated the proceedings and finished on top right from Qualifying to the Final race. While Anshuan Chatterjee (Team Rayo Racing) did give Chittesh a run for his money in the Final, he got stuck behind a backmarker to lose precious time finishing second. The performance of the day also came in the same race by Amey Bafna (Team Rayo Racing), not having finished the Pre-final due to a mechanical failure, Amey started at the back of the grid in the Final race where he overtook 14 other drivers to finish third with a best lap time of 30:039 seconds.

Speaking at the post-race conference Chittesh said,"It felt good to be racing again however my focus is now on training the other drivers in the team and to bring them up to speed. As a team we have good drivers as can be seen from the performances and I am confident we will do good through the remainder of the season."

The winners were awarded the trophies and medal by one of India-s top racers Armaan Ebrahim who was all praises for the young drivers and had a few words of encouragement for them. Team Maini Racing took home the -Best Team- awards in the Micro Max and Junior Max categories, while Team Mohites Racing took the award in the Senior Max class.

The Championship will be back with Round 3 scheduled to be held on August 4 and 5, 2012.