Mahesh wins Red Bull Ace of Dirt 2021, gets a Hero bike
Kolar, 19 March 2021:Red Bull Ace of Dirt, second edition, had 32 two-wheel racers who were invited to compete in multiple off-road disciplines. Of the 16 who qualified after the initial round, the riders battled each other eliminating half of them in each round of pre-quarters, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, on a specially-laid course which had six obstacles courses like motocross, dirt track and enduro sections having wooden logs, table top jumps, mud pits et al. The winner received a Hero bike and he will receive training at the facility.
The winner of the first edition in 2019) of Red Bull Ace of Dirt Yuva Kumar could not make it to the final this year. But he got a lifetime opportunity to train with CS Santosh. The winner also received a bike from Hero. This year too, the winner gets these benefits.
On Friday and Saturday, an endurance race was held at Big Rock Dirt Park, a facility created by Santosh to train and to spread his knowledge to the interested.
Finally, over four laps of the 2.8km course, it was Mahesh VM, astride a Xpulse 200, who won the event after making through the semifinals and finals. A Sathyaraj, also on a Xpulse, came second followed by Sachin Ignatius (Apache RTR 200) and Gideon Benjamin (Implulse).
Top riders including defending champion Yuva Kumar, Naresh VS, Arun T and Devaraj Venkatesh were eliminated in Semis 1 & 2. While Naresh did not start, Yuva had a DNF in the other semis.
Pavan BK, Samuel Abraham, Shoeb, Ishaan Chandra, Trinesh, Salman Khan, Purab Gowda and Asad Khan lost in the quarterfinals.
Final Results (Top-4): 1. Mahesh VM (Xpulse 200) 20: 29.734; 2. A Sathyaraj (Xpulse 200) 21: 09.578; 3. Sachin Ignatius (Apache RTR 200) 24: 20.031; 4. Gideon Benjamin (Impulse) 26: 22.207.
