Kolkota’s Bro-sis duo hog limelight in different teams

By David Bodapati

Chennai, 26 June 2011: Kolkata’s talented youngster Amittrajit Ghosh with co-driver Ashwin Naik of Mangalore saved the day for Team MRF winning the 37^th South India Rally as the Red giants lost the second runner Lohit Urs (Srinivasa Murthy PV) to a stewards’ decision in the second round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship, at Irrungattukottai, 35 kms from here, on Sunday.

Talking about experienced Ashwin Naik, a veteran journalist quipped: “To finish first, first you have to finish. And that happens only when you have a navigator who can control the emotions of a driver,’’ and that’s what Amit Ghosh acknowledged of Ashwin’s expertise today at the Post-event press conference.

Thus, Team MRF dominated the second rally of the season despite strong contender Gaurav Gill of Delhi (co driver Musa Sherif) logging a DNF with gear box problems when he was only a few kilometers to the finish and tried to run only on 5^th gear but could not complete on Day One. Experienced Arjun Balu (Sujith Kumar), also of team MRF, saw their car roll to a halt after SS 6 on Saturday but bounced back to get 7 leg points on Sunday as they were the fastest. It was the new recruit Ghosh, who led the Red challenge till the end winning the top class 2000N+ in the Super Rally format . The lone opposition of privateer Arjun Rao Aroor (Satish Rajagopal) who started his own AR Racing after quitting MRF failed he did not complete the rally. The tight corners and twisty route apart from the bumpy terrain of `Track Stage’ took a toll on the cars and 12 out of 27 dropped out, to tell the tale of the challenging terrain.

In the 2000cc N class, talented youngster who was out of the INRC, Karna Kadu of Bangalore, after a crash in Nashik in 2009, made a stunning comeback after a year’s hiatus, to edge out overnight leaders Rahul Kantharaj and Vivek Bhat also of Bangalore and made it a double whammy for his navigator exactly after a year. His codriver, Somonita Ghosh, sister of winner Ghosh, is the only lady driver in the National Championship. The name Kadur rings a bell in the ear of every motorsport fan for the exploits of his father Mr Kadur, and one hopes that the young giant takes forward the family tradition. “It was a brilliant rally and I am happy where I am finished,’’ said a content Kadur, winning his second only run on the powerful Cedia machine in the INRC. Rahul Kantharaj and Vivek Bhat, who finished second in the 2000 cc N category had a flat tyre while Vikram Devadasen and Somayya AG came third.  “But for the flat tyre today on SS7, we would have retained our lead,” said Kanthraj with Bhat in tow as they tried to hide their disappointment.

In the Gypsy Class, the seasoned Sanjay Agarwal (Shivaprakash E) from Bangalore dedicated his victory to Manoj Dalal, the Clerk of the Course (CoC), who as a co-participant saved his life 10 years back at the same venue in South India Rally, when Sanjay broke his back and still insisted that he would drive. “I am alive and here, because of Manoj, whose timely help saved my life,’’ said Sanjay, with everyone applauding him. Sachin Singh (Venu Ramesh) who lost a minute due to electrical malfunction and finished second while Shafeeq (Adhiraj Bardhan) came third.

In the 1600cc class, Vignesh Devadasen, ably assisted by Anoop Kumar of Bangalore who survived a 300 ft fall in Nashik, won the rally and proved that the safety is of paramount importance. Leader of the championship, Aniruddha Rangnekar and Overdrive’s Hally Prabhakar as codriver finished a deserved second as they managed to nurture their car.

Here you can watch the YouTube video by OVERDRIVE produced by CNBCTV18.

The results (provisional unaudited partial classification):

Overall: Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (MRF) 1 (2hr, 05 mins, 59.0 secs); Karna Kadur (Somonita Ghosh) 2 (2: 08: 44.0 secs);  Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Pvt) 3 (2: 09: 03.4).

2000cc (N+): Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (MRF) 1 (2hr, 05 mins, 59.0 secs);

2000cc (Group N): Karna Kadur (Somonita Ghosh) 1 (2: 08: 44.0) 1; Kanthraj / Bhatt 1 (2: 09: 34.0); Vikram Devadasen  / Somayya AG (Pvt) 3 (2: 09:53.0).

1600cc: Vignesh Devarajan / Anoop Kumar (pvt) 1 (2: 31:56.0); Aniruddha Rangnekar / Halley Prabhakar 2 (2: 41: 31.0);

1400cc (Star Cup): Hrishikesh Thackersey / Kaushik H Shinde 1 (2: 04.14.0); Karan AM / Shanmuga SN 2 (02:03:.4).

Gypsy – stock: Sanjay Agarwal / Shivaprakash E 1 (2:00:31.0); Sachin Singh / Venu Ramesh 2 (2:02:35.0); Shafeeq-ur-Rehman / Adhiraj Bardhan 3 (3:03:34.0).

Note to editors: Since 1400cc and Gypsy Cup are not officially part of INRC, the scratch time given for the cars in the other classes for the cancelled stage are not added to these class cars and the timings are for only ten stages.