Keen fare on cards: Rotax Max Karting Nationals
Bengaluru, 3 Nov 2018: Keen competition is on cards as the National Karting Championship reaches the final round of the 2018 season. The number of competitors may be less but the competition remains high as champions in all the three classes will be decided only on the final day on Sunday with 89 points at stake.
The fifth and final round of the Meco Motorsports FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship 2018 began here at the Meco Kartopia track on Saturday with practice sessions and heats run in Micro Max, Junior Max, and Senior Max classes.
In the Senior Max, Debarun Banerjee of MSports is leading the championship with 346 points while teammate A Balaprasanth is on 331 and Rayo Racing’s Danesh Vakharia garnered 316. Banerjee won three of the four finals and two pre-finals in the previous four rounds with Bala Prasanth winning the third round final. Danish won the pre-finals in the third round but failed to finish the final thus losing crucial points and is now 30 points behind the leader. All the three will be going all out on Sunday with fourth-placed Shahan Ali Mohsin, also of MSports, breathing on their necks in fourth place with 314 points.
Shahan is comfortably placed in the Junior Max section, though. Winning six races from 8 starts, the MSports karter has 351 points ahead of Mihir Suman Avalakki, who is the only other winner taking both the pre-finals and finals in the second round. He is on 332 points and a further five points behind in third is K Suriya Varathan, also of MSports and Birel Art’s M R Rishon is on 325 points.
In Micro Max class, Madesh brothers, Ishaan, and Rohaan of Peregrine Racing lead the championship with 351 and 345 points respectively with teammate Sathvik Raju in third place with 320 points. Birel Art’s Abhay M is closely placed in the fourth spot with 318 followed by another Peregrine karter Jagrat Detroja on 313 points. Though Mathematically any of the top five can win the title, the fight is essentially between the two brothers where the younger Madesh did some smart manoeuvres in the previous round and is just six points behind. After a shaky start in the first two rounds, Ishaan Madesh dominated the Micromax category winning all the four races in the previous two rounds. He lost both the races in the second round and the pre-finals in the first round but recovered to take the lead. But with only six points separating the brothers, Sunday will witness a keen battle.
The pre-finals winner will take home 34 points while a win the final is worth 55 points. The numbers on the grid may be less but no inch is given as the season comes to the business end.
