Donison and Aradhya dominate day 1 of National Karting Championship

Ricky Donison and Yash Aradhya have had a good start to their 2016 National Rotax Max Karting Championship campaign at the inaugural round held at Meco Kartopia, Bangalore.

The 13^th National Rotax Max Karting Championship for the 2016 season has kicked off with the first round of the season. Young racing drivers from all over the country compete in three categories - Micro Max (7-12 years), Junior Max (13-16 years) and Senior Max (above 15 years) in five rounds held over the course of the year.

The inaugural round of the 2016 season of the championship has kicked off. After free practice, the competitors found their rhythm eventually as the track conditions became better throughout the course of the day. Here is how day 1 went down in each category.

Senior Max

Heat 1 saw Ricky Donison take the lead into the first corner. Nayan Chatterjee made it past Dhruv Mohite into turn 1to slot into second place. Chetterjee tried his best to catch up to Denison, but failed to close the gap and settle for second.

Mohite was challenged by former champion, Vishnu Prasad who managed to overtake him on Lap 6 and pushed till he had a comfortable gap. Unfortunately, Prasad suffered a puncture which forced him to retire. Mohite took third place back from Prasad and held on till the finish.

Donison again dominated Heat 2 after extending his lead with a sizeable gap following a good first lap. Donison maintained the lead till the end to take his second win for the weekend. Chatterjee followed him in second while Ameya Bafna finished third in the heat.

Junior Max

In Heat 1 of the Junior Max category, Yash Aradhya showed great pace by taking the lead into the second corner of Lap 1. Aradhya opened up a sizeable gap over the rest of the pack to take the heat win. Chirag Ghorpade finished in second pace in class. However, the battle for third was hot as Paul Francis, Nirmal Umashankar and Manav Sharma got involved in a major battle for the position. Francis made his move on Sharma the penultimate lap at turn 10 for third place. Francis took third place from Sharma and kept it until the chequered flag.

Aradhya again dominated the second heat to claim his second win of the day, with Ghorpade following him in second. Sharma managed to salvage what he lost in Heat 1 by finishing third with a hard fought battle in the second heat.

Micro Max

Defending champion, Shahan Ali Mohsin didn’t have the ideal first heat after he finished second. Shahan was four seconds off the pace of heat winner Ruhaan Alva.

But in Heat 2, Shahan found his lost pace to take a win over Ruhan, who was only three tenths behind him in second. Arjun R managed to claim third place for both heats.

The results of Day 1 will determine how the grid will line up for the Pre-finals and finals to be held on Sunday. The provisional standings after the first day of Round 1 is as follows;-

Senior Max (15 laps)

Position	Heat 1	Heat 2
1st	Ricky Donison	Ricky Donison
2nd	Nayan Chatterjee	Nayan Chatterjee
3rd	Dhruv Mohite	Ameya Bana

Junior Max: (15 laps)

Position	Heat 1	Heat 2
1st	Yash Aradhya	Yash Aradhya
2nd	Chirag Ghorpade	Chirag Ghorpade
3rd	Paul Francis	Manav Sharma

Micro Max: (10 Laps)

Position	Heat 1	Heat 2
1st	Ruhaan Alva	Shahan Ali Mohsin
2nd	Shahan Ali Mohsin	Ruhaan Alva
3rd	Arjun R	Arjun R