National Karting: Prasad, Gowda, Shahan Ali win rain-hit first round

The first round of the 2015 JK Tyre National Karting Championship concluded at the recently built Chicane Circuit in Hyderabad on Sunday, with Vishnu Prasad, Akash Gowda and Shahan Ali Mohsin taking top honours in the Senior Max, Junior Max and Micro Max categories, respectively.

Early morning downpour and a brief shower just before the Senior Max race made life tricky for the drivers, with many sliding in the corners due to lack of grip.

Senior Max - Prasad takes victory over Chaterjee

Vishnu Prasad won the final race of the senior max category after diving down the inside of Nayan Chaterjee at the hairpin with two laps to go. Taking advantage of the situation, Dhruv Mohite piled pressure on the Mumbai-based driver, but had to eventually settle for third.

In the pre-final, Chaterjee passed pole-sitter Ameya Bafna to take a comfortable win while the latter fell further down the grid, having been hit by a rival driver. An early retirement in the final race added to Bafna’s misery.

Senior Max final - results(top three)

Vishnu Prasad (Meeco Racing)
Nayan Chaterjee (Rayo Racing) +0.894
Dhruv Mohite (Mohites Racing) +1.149

Junior Max - Gowda and Nallwalla share victories

In the Junior Max category, Akash Gowda and Mohammed Nallwalla won finals and pre-finals respectively, with the latter the more impressive of the two. Nallwalla took the pre-final win by a dominant margin of 7.5 seconds and trailed just over a second behind Akash Gowda in the final race, despite having little experienced of wet conditons, having previously raced in the UAE.

Last year’s Micro Max winner Yash Aradhya - who graduated to junior max karting this season - initally led the race before falling to fourth at the chequered flag. The Meco Racing driver was visibly disappointed with the outcome of the race, having finished on the podium in race 1 and triumphed in one of the heats yesterday.

Juniour Max final - results(top three)

Akash Gowda (Meco Racing)
Mohammed Nallwalla (Rayo Racing) +1.622
Nirmal Umashankar (Meco Racing) +5.284

Micro Max - Dominant display from Shahan Ali Mosin

Agra’s Shahan Ali Mosin disappeared into the distance in both the Micro Max races on Sunday, to register two-dominant wins to his name. Ruhaan Alwa and Arjun Nair were second and third respectively, with Aditya Swaminathan just missing out on the rostrum.

Micro Max final - results(top three)

Shahn Ali Mohsin (Meco Racing)
Ruhaan Alwa (BPC Racing) +2.661
Arjun Nair (Meco Racing) +2.973