Karthik-Shankar Anand hold narrow lead after Leg One
Shimoga, 19 July 2014: The first day of the Ceat-Mahindra Monsoon Challenge had a more-than-interesting start as it traversed about 375Km through some really scenic routes in Karnataka. Needless to say, the rain made it all the more interesting and challenging for the 24 entrants who took the start from Bangalore on Saturday morning.
Karthik M and Shankar Anand, with 28 seconds, were provisionally leading in the Pro Expert category after Leg One. In second place were Azgar Ali and Mohammad Musthafa (29 seconds) and in third place were Ganesh Murthy and Nagarajan (31 seconds).
In the Pro Stock class, Dinky Varghese and Sakthivel, with a plenalty of 59 seconds, nine seconds, were leading. In second place were Amarnath GJ and Mokthiyar Ahmed (1:04 min) and Cheshta Sood and Prakash (1:07 min) and in third place were.
After the start from Bangalore, the competitors took off on Tumkur Road towards Devarayanadurga. From there, they moved to Javagal, Chikmagalur, Mulayangiri, Kemmangundi and Tarikere before halting for the night at Shimoga.
The route was a mix of smooth tarmac and broken tarmac in places. With the rain not relenting at places, it became all the more important for the entrants to manoeuvre carefully. Even if the entrants lost time at certain places due to rain or terrain, they could not afford to speed at any juncture due to the strict speed restrictions. This has been done to ensure safety of the competitors and also the public. In any case, the idea of such Time-Speed-Distance rallies is to go at a very safe speed.
With the Leg One leaders holding a very slender lead, it is going to be a very interesting Leg Two as the competitors battle it out to the finish at Mangalore on Sunday afternoon.
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