Naren-Ram win cars’ section; Nipender Jassy bags bikes overall win

By George Francis, Scorp News

Coimbatore, 11 October 1999: The Cotton City Rally 1999, once again proved the `Magic of Coimbatore’ with 95 per cent of the 4-wheeler participants finishing the rally with 18 out of 19 cars making it safely to the finish. With 34 out of 41 motorcycles making it to the finish for 83 per cent, CASC rewrote the perfection in organising and meticulous care in route setting.

Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, infamous for its organising capacity perfected once again the highest co-efficient earning rally of 1998. A simple constant vigil at the stages to monitor climatic conditions, the interest to see most finishers, and the commitment and professionalism to achieve that at all stages, against all odds. This is the secret of CASC, who could muster the support of splinter group club Spit Fire Motorsport, andforget all differences to run the Cotton City Rally, as the pride of Coimbatoreans. If the Coimbatore `Magic’ ran ran rally perfect, then Nipendar Jassy, of TVS Racing, rode his Suzuki Shaolin doubly superb to steal the overall Motorcycles cotton city title as a Novice rider. Team MRF Tyres, continued their winning ways, lifting the Overall and Group A trophies. Naren Kumar and navigator Ramkumar challenged nemesis JK Tyres Rally Team, to return victory to the team, `whose raced tyres we buy’. Team Escorts Yamaha took the Group D (unmodified) category top spot. G Prasad of Mysore, riding a works Yamaha, won the top spot with his nearest rival SP Chinnappa almost 3 minutes behind. JK Tyres Rally Team did not stay far behind when Manik Raikhy and P Vivekanandan proved victors in the Group N (unmodified) cars class. In the 4-wheeler unseeded and Novice Class, Team Chettinad Sporting made it a 1-2-3 affair. The two wheeler novice class top spot went to Team Nanjappas Rohan Rego. The irony of the whole rally was Overall winner from TVS Racing Nipendar Jassy picking up the top unseeded prize.

The most-interesting part about the results in each category was that whichever team led the table, the rival team would have picked up at least 2nd and 3rd places. (see results). That has been the level of competition in the Cotton City Challenge, 1999.

On October 7, 19 cars and 41 motorcycles lined up to move as a motorcade to the Special Stages at Windmill Farmland. Pounding the ups and downs of two such farmlands, the rallyists mowed the stages.

Two basic stages, Textool (11.31km) and LMW (10.7km), formed the competitive part of the rally route. Thanks to Mr Sanjay Jayvarthananelu, whole Time MD of Ms.LMW (Lakshmi Machine Works Limited) and Director of Textools Limited, CASC gets such excellent rallying terrain so close to Coimbatore. These two stages run thrice in the forward direction on the first day and in the reverse direction on the 2nd day, were the Special Stages in toto.

Filled with sliding turns, and flying ditches, the adventure seekers had a tough time keeping their machines, on the road. The two wheeler riders sans navigators (due to the reccee) tore down the dirt as if possessed and in many an instance just managed to keep their mount, despite a nasty ditch or a slimy dirt. Incessent rains from four days before the event, had damaged quite a few parts of the stages. The Karta of the Cotton City Rally route, the tough sounding shy Ramakrishnan, and his team who were policing nature’s fury would smoothen down the odd ditch and the persisting dirt until the rally day. In fact, the CASC went to the extreme level of filling up a portion of a canal, filled with water, which was running across the road in the LMW stage. One has to agree that none other than CASC could have achieved almost 80 per cent perfection on the marking of routes, as per the original tulip given the rainy conditions.

Team MRF Limited had fielded 3 riders, all in the Group C-Modified category. TVS Racing sported two Group C bikes and one Group D-unmodified bike. Team Escorts Yamaha supported the three Group C bikes of MRF and two members in Group D. Team Pushpak Yamaha, an outfit run and managed by ace rider V Sham Sundar of Bangalore, and supported fully  by Yamaha, had 3 riders, all in Group C. Four riders from Team Zen Rallying and two from Team Nanjappas, one rider (S Madhu) with sponsorship from Shell, which accounted for 16 riders from the Direct Advertising segment.

There were 25 riders without major sponsorship support. That the prime riders were on works bikes showed, as they rode the Palladam stages at wind-breaking speeds. The style and manoeuvring techniques adopted by these dare-devils was perfect and breath-taking. About 300 meters into the Textool Stage, the riders had to leap over a hump ad land into fairly thick patch of slush, and take an immediate right-hander. It was just a miracle that many of them escaped a fall here. The courage shown even by the tail enders in taking this jump head on was a reminder that modern Indian rallying is definitely touching new heights.

Amrinder Sandhu of Team MRF was the major casualty on Day 1, when he lost on the down hill and rolled down. He broke his collar bone. The 1996 Overall Champion, Amar, was leading the rally by 30 seconds. When he fell, RH Vikram, another MRF rider, took over, and led the rally through the day, on a Yamaha. Amar had shifted from Suzuki to Yamaha after six years of rallying, and should have found his `steed’ difficult to `harness’.

The four-wheeler dare-devils were not far behind in acrobatics. Arjun Balu of Team MRF took a turn too tight and poked his Esteem nose into the dirt. Recovering he continued. Among the 19 cars, were 7 from MRF Limited, 3 Group A-Modified and 4 Group N-Unmodified. Five JK Tyre Rally Team cars (3 Group A and two Group N), Team Chettinad Sporting with 3 Group N cars, Team Kadur with 2 Group N cars, and just 2 privateers. This speaks volumes of the kind of money involved in 4-wheeler rallying. With a normal line-up of about 30 cars for every rally, this season (1999) has seen only about 20 cars in each event.

Naren Kumar of MRF Limited with navigator D Ramkumar, set the pace for the rest of the bandwagon as Karamjit Singh and navigator Jagdev Singh, were on hot pursuit. It is interesting to note that every single driver showed his/her own perfection in taking the turns and humps and every driver finished the first leg of the CASC Rally.

With 5 drop-outs in Bikes and none in cars, 36 motorcycles and 19 cars finished the leg and parked into Parc Ferme. The rains that lashed Tamil Nadu before the Leg 1 had made it difficult to drive/ ride through these dirt stages. A marked difference in performance between the first run of the day, to the last run (after the stages dried up) showed an improvement of almost 8 seconds.

On October 10 at 7.30am, the remaining adventure seekers took the dirts of Palladam with grace and ease, as the dried up dirt made it faster and exciting. Day 2, saw punctures pestering the performance with K Prasad, RH Vikram, Hari Singh, Karamjit Singh and many more having flats and lost precious seconds in the reckoning for the crown.

The superb performance of TVS Racing Amol Talpade saw him leading, until he rolled six times like the wheel of fortune. Amol’s Cotton City Rally was over with a minor fracture on his wrist.

The rest of the 34 motorcycles and 19 cars, were enjoying the Cotton City all along, sliding and skidding on their machines. It was in the 3rd stage of the day, that MRF Limited spearhead and ace tuner Leelakrishnan, found his Esteem gear box break and pulled out. There was just one more motorcycle drop-out in Leg 2.

The leaders were set now. Karamjit and Hari who were on Naren’s tail were way behind due to time lost on punctures. Team MRF Limited’s Naren Kumar and D Ramkumar led overall in cars and teammates Sagar Muthappa and Sandeep S Rao led in Group N. As for the two-wheelers Nipendar Jassy took the `Front Seat’ now.

Once again, MRF riders, RH Vikram and K Prasad were way behind due to punctures. It was a treat to watch Nipendar, the motocrosser take the dirt sections in true Motocross style. He hardly struggled. Suddenly evening saw a content 18 cars and their crew, and 34 motorcycles check into Parc Ferme at Suguna Kalyana Mandapam at Coimbatore. The satisfaction of having run a strenuous 2-day rally, reflected contentment on their faces, as the 17th Cotton City Rally ended peacefully.

The last but two rallies in cars and the penultimate rally in Bikes, did turn the tables on the Castrol National Championship for Cars and Motorcycles. Team MRF Tyres leads overall in the Cars section with VR Naren Kumar at 90 points, followed by teammate Arjun Balu with 71.25 points. Standing 3rd is JK Tyres Rally Team’s Hari Singh with 66.25 points.

In the Overall two-wheeler category also, MRF leads with K Prasad on 78.25 points followed by teammate Rohitaaz Kumar and TVS Racing’s Nipendar Jassy tied at 75, and another MRF rider RH Vikram at 69. The positions in the Group A-modified cars and Group C-modified bikes are similar to the overall results.

The story in Group N and Group D are different. JK Tyres Rally team’s Manik Raikhy leads the table with 51.25 points followed by Team MRF Tyres’ Vijayant Chaudhury on 40.50 and teammate Jagat Nanjappa on 30.75. In the Group D category, Team Escorts Yamaha, who also tune MRF Limited’s K PRasad, Rohitaaz and RH Vikram) lead with G. Prasad on 41.75 points followed by TVS Racing’s Kunal Singh on 39 and Escorts Yamaha R Srinivas on 37.75.

In the Group N Category, MRF’s Sagar Muthappa and Sandeep S Rao (navigator) shared the honours with JK Tyre’s Manik Raikhy and P Vivekanandan, each one of them being the fastest in five stages each. The other two stages were led by JK Tyre’s Nikhil Taneja and Musa Sherif. While JK Tyres had a 100 per cent finish in the five cars it fielded, Team MRF’s record of six finishes out of seven.Team Chettinad Sporting and Team Kadur had 100 per cent finishes.

Two-wheelers

In the motorcycles section, TVS RAcing’s Nipendar Jassy led the table with five fastest timings followed by MRF Tyres’ K Prasad (4) and RH Vikram (3). In the Group D section, TVS Racing once again led with Motocross sensation Gaurav Gill returning the seven fastest timings followed by Team Escorts Yamaha’s G Prasad (5).

Overall, leaving the winners out, there were many other competitors who did well, considering the constraints of expense, and service back-up as compared to the big-time sponsored teams.

Team Chettinad Sporting’s R Gopinath and C Rajaram, who were rallying after a six-year break should be lauded for finishing fourth in Group N and winning the topo prizes in the Novice and unseeded classes. Gopi, from the Lakshmi Mills Group was into racing during the days of the Coimbatore legend Karivardhan. Then he switched to rallys. It is great to see Gopi performing so well after so many years of lay-off. NK Ramesh and RG Vishnu Kamath, who are private entrants for all the National RAllys, also turned out an excellent performance.

Jagat Nanjappa, the two-wheeler legend who had started his Team Nanjappas a year back, and laid off the team for a short while, had brought in two riders for the Cotton City. AS Akash Ithal, who rides a Group C bike, won the third spot in the Unseeded category. Rohan Rego, who rode a Group D bike picked up the top spot in the Novice class and finished fifth in the Unseeded event.

Provisional Results:

Cars – Overall: 1. Naren Kumar/ Ramkumar (Team MRF) (1hour, 57min, 38sec); 2. Hari Singh/ GS Mann (JK Tyre) (1:59:08); 3. Karamjit Singh/ Jagdev Singh (JK Tyre) (1:59:10); 4. Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (Team MRF) (2:01:21); 5. Manik Raikhy/ P Vivekanandan (JK Tyre)(2:02:55).

Group A Modified: 1.  Naren Kumar/ Ramkumar (Team MRF) (1hour, 57min, 38sec); 2. Hari Singh/ GS Mann (JK Tyre) (1:59:08); 3. Karamjit Singh/ Jagdev Singh (JK Tyre) (1:59:10); 4. Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (Team MRF) (2:01:21);5. Upkar Dicky Gill/ AS Jaiswal (JK Tyre) (2:07:01).

Group N Unmodified cars: 1. Manik Raiky/ P. Vivekanandan (JK Tyre) (2:02:55); 2. B Sagar Muthappa/ Sandeep Rao (Team MRF) (2:03:28); 3. Jagat Nanjappa/ Anita Nanjappa (Team MRF) (2:04:09); 4. R Gopnath/ C Rajaram (Chettinad Sporting ) (2:04:15); 5. Vijayant Chaudhry/ R Satish (Team MRF) (2:04:39).

Unseeded cars: 1. R Gopnath/ C Rajaram (Chettinad Sporting ) (2:04:15); 2. Navaz Bhathena/ Sherin Balachandran (Chettinad Sporting) (2:10:11); 3. PG Abhilash/ CK Chinappa (Chettinad Sporting) (2:10:24); 4. NK Ramesh/ Vishnu Kamath (2:10:24); Umakanth Alva/ Sunil Shetty (2:21:40).

Novice cars: 1. R Gopnath/ C Rajaram (Chettinad Sporting ) (2:04:15); 2. Navaz Bhathena/ Sherin Balachandran (Chettinad Sporting) (2:10:11); 3. PG Abhilash/ CK Chinappa (Chettinad Sporting) (2:10:24); 4. NK Ramesh/ Vishnu Kamath (2:10:24); Umakanth Alva/ Sunil Shetty (2:21:40).

Motorcycles

Overall – Group C (modified) Bikes: 1. Nipender Jassy (TVS Racing) (02:04:25); 2. K Prasad (MRF) (2:06:45); 3. RH Vikram (MRF) (2:07:01); 4. BC Roopesh (Pushpak Yamaha) (2:08:05); 5. D Uday Kumar (Zen Rallying) (2:08:40).

Group D (Unmodified) bikes: 1. G Prasad (Escorts Yamaha) (2:10:58); 2 SP Chinnappa (2:13:23); 3. V Kunal Singh (TVS Racing) (2:13:44); 4. Rohan Rego (Team Nanjappas) (2:14:02); 5. Gaurav Gill (TVS Racing) (2:14:30).

Unseeded Bikes: 1. Nipender Jassy (TVS Racing) (2:04:25); 2. BC Roopesh (Pushpak Yamaha) (2:08:05); 3. Akash Ithal (Team Nanjappas) (2:09:15); 4. SP Chinnappa (Zen Rallying) (2:13:23); 5. Rohan Rego (Team Nanjappas) (2:14:02).

Novice bikes: 1. Rohan Rego (Team Nanjappas) (2:14:02); 2. GS Killen Ganapathy (2:17:40); 3. Pradeep Kumar (2:17:54); 4. Shell S Madhu (2:18:23); 5. CD Jinan (2:20:58).

Tuners’ Prize:

Tuner of Overall winning car: N Leelakrishnan, MRF Limited

Tuner of Overall bike: Arvind Pangaonkar, TVS Suzuki Limited.

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