Ganesh Moorthy-Nagarajan bag Pro Expert, Overall titles in Ceat-Mahindra Monsoon Challenge 2014

By Vivek Phadnis

Mangalore, 20 July

2014: Ganesh Moorthy and navigator Nagarajan, with a time penalty of 25 seconds, clinched the title in the Pro Expert category in the Ceat-Mahindra Monsoon Challenge 2014 that concluded here on Sunday. They also emerged as the Overall Champions in the event.

Moorthy-Nagarajan were followed by Karthick M and Sankar Anand, who finished a close second with a time penalty of 29 seconds. Abhijeeth N Pai and Satish Gopalkrishnan bagged the third spot with a time penalty of 38 seconds.

In the Pro Stock category, GJ Amarnath and Mukthiyar Ahmed took the top spot with a total penalty of one minute, 24 seconds, while Sudheendra Hebbar and Sagar M finished second and they earned six seconds more in penalty than the winners. Dinky Varghese and Sakthivel finished third after attracting a total penalty of one minute, 45 seconds.

Anil Kumar and Shiva Kumar won the Amateur class, while Vikas Vijay and Shabina topped the Couple Class and Deepthi Gowda and Varshini Kataya won in the All Ladies Class.

As is clearly seen in the time penalties, it was stiff competition throughout and the winners were decided by the narrowest of margins. Such was the tricky challenge in this event that was conducted under the Time-Speed-Distance format. A TSD rally does not involve high speeds and the emphasis is on precise calculation of speed so that one reaches the finish point as close as possible to the given time. Arriving too early or late attracts penalties.

On Sunday, things proved to be a little tougher for the competitors as they had to battle heavy rain and rough terrain at places apart from several blind corners. This meant that they had to be on their toes all the time. It was a free run, from the overnight halt at Shimoga on Saturday, till the beautiful JogFalls. The rally route touched Kodachadri, KollurTemple, MaravanteBeach and finally arrived here. On Sunday, the total distance covered was 330Km, while it was 375Km on Saturday.

The total prize money is Rs 3.5 lakh. The overall winners were richer by Rs one lakh, while the top three places earned Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 in both categories. The first placed competitors in the Amateur Class received Rs 20,000 and a Terra Trip meter kit worth Rs 30,000. The second and third places received Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively.

UT Khader, the Honourable Minister for Health and Family Welfare, was the chief guest for the prize distribution function.

Results: Pro Expert: 1. Ganesh Moorthy/ Nagarajan (00:25 seconds penalty); 2. Karthick M/ Sankar Anand (00:29); 3. Abhijeeth N Pai/ Satish Gopalkrishnan (00:38); 4. SK Azgar Ali/ Mohammed Musthafa (00:41); 5. Srikanth Gowda GM/ Chandrashekar (00:50).

Pro Stock: 1. GJ Amarnath/ Mukthiyar Ahmed (01:24 minutes); 2. Sudheendra Hebbar/ Sagar M (01:30); 3. Dinky Varghese/ Sakthivel (00:01:45); 4. Chestha Sood/ Prakash (01:48); 5. Philip Baklin/ David Sharon (02:36).

Amateur: 1. Anil Kumar/ Shiva Kumar (18:12); 2. Rajesh/ Arvind (27:36); 3. Darshan/ Vishwanath (56:29); 4. Ashwath Rasquina/ Vijay Fernandes (01:15:30 hours); 5. R Gopi Kannan/ R Lokanathan (04:34:29).

Couple: 1. Vikas Vijay/ Shabina (01:37:27).

All Ladies: 1. Deepthi Gowda/ Varshini Kataya (01:55:00)

eom/VivekPhadnis/press release