Leela-Farooq win K-1000; Zubin Patel tops bikes class

By George Francis/ Scorp News

Bangalore, 14 August 1998: Team MRF ruled the roost in the 24th Castrol Karnataka 1000 Rally, winning the first four places among cars and the first two among motorcycles here on Sunday. Multiple National champion N Leelakrishnan and navigator Farooq Ahmed won the K1000, the third round of the Castrol National Rally Championship for cars 1998 while Zubin Patel also of Team MRF clinched the Overall honours in the Motorcycle section.

The Karnataka Motor Sports Club (KMSC) roped in Castrol as the main sponsor for this National Championship event. The FMSCI president Shramick Masturlal, who was also the Clerk of the Course, had put together a simple, yet highly competitive route for the rallyists.

The K-1000, one of the oldest rallys in the country, was run on the internationally accepted Special Stage format. This format requires specific non-traffic areas designated as Special Stages. During these stages, the two-wheelers are flagged off at one-minute intervals, while the four-wheelers at two-minute intervals.

In each of the categories, the rallyist with the best time is given nil penalties. Those following him are added on time penalties in relation to the fastest time.

The five Special Stages were, Yellapura, Appenehalli, Kondli, India Mines and Gowdhikere. The route between these stages were designated as Transport Sections (TS). The time allotted to traverse the TS is quite comfortable by rallying standards. Also, servicing was made easier by providing for a Service Park at Harenahalli.

An organised recee was provided for on August 11 before the pre-event scrutiny. There were four classes of competition, Group A and N for cars and Group C and D for motorcycles. While Group A and C for modified vehicles, Group N and D were for stock cars and stock motorcycles, respectively.

In all there were nine cars in Group A and 19 in Group N and among motorcycles, Group C had 21 entries and Group D, 44. While the two-wheelers were flagged off first, the cars started later in the afternoon.

A prominent pre-race casualty was Amarinder Singh of Team MRF. During the recee, he suffered a fall from his bike at the end of the Gowdhikere stage and had to be hospitalised with torn muscles.

In the early stages, Dicky Gill from Delhi led, followed by Arjun Balu and N Leelakrishnan, the eventual Overall winner. Among motorcyclists, Zubin Patel looked invincible. After the rallyists had run through the five stages, the first time around, as many as 14 bikes pulled out.

With service over, the rally was on again. Halfway through the skies opened up and the slushy conditions made the route even more of a challenge. With two-thirds of the rally gone through, the contestants wore a ragged look. To add to their woes, there were reports of stone throwing and road blocks by the locals during Kondli stage. This forced the CoC and his deputy to patrol the 18km stretch before letting the competitors through. It also led to one of the Stages being cancelled.

Misfortune continued to dog Dicky Gill in this rally too. His tuner forgot to screw on the radiator cap and his Maruti Esteem engine ceased on the transport section before the finish.

The JK Tyres tea, too, had its share of problems. Four-time National Champion Hari Sing and his navigator Gurinder Singh Mann pulled out with a broken suspension. Nikhil Taneja abandoned the rally after going into a ditch; Satish Bhat and Nihar Singh were forced out due to mechanical problems and Akbar Ebrahim suffered a broken drive shaft.

Team MRF rider Rohitaaz Kumar was out early on the final run and RH Vikram, who was running well, hit a truck near Neelamangala and pulled out.

When the surviving 15 cars and 36 bikes checked into The Club, the members of Team MRF were ecstatic. But even as the celebrations were being planned fresh hurdles awaited them.

Gaurav Dalal of JK Tyres filed a protest with the stewards saying that the MRF drivers had resorted to fly-off hand brakes. But the stewards over-ruled the objection saying, the use of fly-off hand brake was or safety reasons and offered no advantage to the leaders.

Watch the Castrol Video by Sunil Shetty here.

Provisional Results:

Overall: 1. N Leelakrishnan/Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (1hour, 38minutes, 43seconds); 2. Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (Team MRF) (1:39:00); 3. Sagar Muthappa/Sandeep S Rao (Team MRF) (1:39:30).

Group A Modified: 1. N Leelakrishnan/Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (1hour, 38minutes, 43seconds); 2. Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (Team MRF) (1:39:00); 3. Manik Raikhy/ P Vivekanandan (JK Tyres) (1:41:08).

Group N Unmodified: 1. Sagar Muthappa/Sandeep S Rao (Team MRF) (1:39:30); 2. Jagat Nanjappa/ Anita (Team MRF) (1:39:49); 3. Karandeep Singh/ Jaidas Menon (Team MRF) (1:41:08).

Motorcycles:

Overall and Group C modified: 1. Zubin Patel (Team MRF) (1:49:10); 2. K Prasad, Mysore (1:50:52); 3. R Sreenivas, Bangalore, (1:52:32).

Group D Unmodified: 1. Paritosh Kohok, Nasik (1:55:40); 2. K Amith Kumar, Bangalore, (2:05:11); 3. Rohan Rego, Mangalore (2:06:44).

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