Big day for Shriya Lohia, Double for Ruhaan; Nirmal bounces back: Karting Nationals

Bengaluru, 13 July 2019: Chennai’s Nirmal Umashanker made a comeback with a win in Race 4 while young Ruhaan Alva notched up a double in the Junior Class and Ishaan Madesh took a victory in the Cadet Class on the Day 2 of the Round 3 JK Tyre National Karting Championship at the Meco Kartopia circuit, near here on Saturday.

Nirmal recovered from a forgettable Race 2 and returned to his winning ways taking a narrow win against Bala Prasath in Race 3 of the X-30 Senior Class and went on to beat him again in Race 4.

However, the highlight of the day is the sensational win by young Shriya Lohia, who stunned the boys to notch her maiden win in the Cadet Class of the National Championship. She won the race 4 beating Sai Siva Makesh Sankaran while championship leader Ishaan Madesh, who suffered a rare loss, finished third. Shriya is second on the championship table behind Ishaan.

Nirmal was shunted out of the race in the fifth corner of the very first lap by Bengaluru karter Paul Francis and he suffered his first loss of the season with no points to show. However, he bounced back in his typical style and recorded a win in the next race.

Bala Prasath of Coimbatore who made the best use of the situation and defeated Bengaluru’s Aditya Swaminathan by a huge margin to take the victory in Race 2. Debarun Banerjee of Delhi came third in Race 2 and could only manage only fourth despite the fastest lap in Race 3 but that helped him garner some important points. Abhirath Shetty, also from the Garden City, finished second in the third race.

In the X-30 Junior Category, Bengaluru karter Ruhaan Alva won a grand double winning both the races on the day to make up for his loss on Friday. He beat compatriot MR Rishon with a comfortable margin in both the Races. Yesterday’s winner Arjun Nair had to be content with a third place in both Race 3 and Race 4. Ruhaan also clocked the fastest laps in both the races.

In the X-30 Cadet Class, younger of the Madesh brothers, Ishaan clocked 10min 32.461sec for the 10 laps of the 1.2km Meco Kartopia track to win Race 3. Raiden Samervel of Mumbai kept Pune’s racing girl Shriya Lohia in third place. Ishaan also clocked the fastest lap.

Races in Round 4 started on Saturday afternoon beginning with a major upset as Nirmal Umashanker suffered a loss once again. It is Bengaluru boy Abhirath Shetty who won the race followed by Debarun Banerjee in second and Bala Prasath in third.

In Race 1 of the Cadet Class, Ishaan Madesh, restored a bit of pride for himself as he outclassed Shriya Lohia to win the first race of Round 4 which is being simultaneously held along with Round 3 during the same weekend. Raiden Samervel of Mumbai, who came third, also clocked the best lap.

Provisiona Unaudited Results: X30 Round 3; Day 2

Senior Class: Race 2 (15 laps): 1. A Bala Prasath (Coimbatore) (14:13.603); 2. Aditya Swaminathan (Bengaluru) (14:20.355); 3. Debarun Banerjee (Delhi) (14:20.548); Best Lap: Debarun 56.223.

Race 3 (4 laps): 1. Nirmal Umashanker (Chennai) (3:48.310); 2. Abhirath Shetty (Bengaluru) (3:48.568); 3. A Bala Prasath (Coimbatore) (3: 48.923). Best Lap: Debarun Banerjee (Delhi – 4th) 56.086.

Race 4 (15 laps): 1. Nirmal Umashanker (Chennai) (14:04.772); 2. A Bala Prasath (Coimbatore) (14:05.208); 3. Abhirath Shetty (Bengaluru) (14:08.291). Best Lap: Bala 55.962.

Junior Class: Race 3 (15 laps): 1. Ruhaan Alva (Bengaluru) (14:24.139); 2. MR Rishon (Bengaluru) (14:30.313); 3. Arjun S Nair (Bengaluru) (14:32.497); Best lap: Ruhaan 55.683.

Race 4 (15 laps): 1. Ruhaan Alva (14:01.202); 2. MR Rishon (14:03.976); 3. Arjun S Nair (14:12.511). Best lap: Ruhaan 55:755.

Cadet Class: Race 2 (10 laps): 1. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (11:49.952); 2. Raiden Samervel (Mumbai) (11:59.316); 3. Shriya Lohia (Pune) (12:10.123). Best Lap: Ishaan 1:03.707.

Race 3 (10 laps): 1. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (10:32.461); 2. Raiden Samervel (Mumbai) (10:38.363); 3. Shriya Lohia (Pune) (10:44.135). Best lap: Ishaan 1:02.719.

Race 4: (10 laps): 1. Shriya Lohia (Pune) (11:13.233); 2. Sai Siva Makesh Sankaran (Pune) (11:13.448); 3. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (11:13.597). Best Lap: Ishaan 1:02.876.

Provisional Unaudited Results: X30 Round 4:

Senior Class: Race 1 (15 laps): 1. Abhirath Shetty (Bengaluru) (13:57.000); 2. Debarun Banerjee (Delhi) (14:00.208); 3. A Bala Prasath (Coimbatore) (14:05.199); Best Lap: 55.601.

Cadet Class: Race 1 (10 laps): 1. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (10:30.192); 2. Shriya Lohia (Pune) (10:31.121); 3. Raiden Samervel (Mumbai) (10:33.515). Best Lap: Raiden 1:02.390.