Maini brothers dominate; Rishon Rajeev, Rohaan Madesh share honours; Ishaan in line to retain title

Bengaluru, 9 Jan 2021: Now under the tutelage of Narain Karthikeyan, Maini brothers dominated the show and hogged the limelight in the Senior Class, once again for the third week running but it was Birel Art’s Rishon Rajeev, who put in another stellar performance taking a gold in the final race of the Junior Class while the pre-finals were dominated Madesh brothers of Peregrine Racing. Rohaan in Junior class and Ishaan in Micro Max class, excelled clinching a gold each in the fifth and penultimate round of the Rotax Max National Karting Championship here at Meco Kartopia, near Bagalur, on Saturday.

Kush Maini, the runner-up in the British F3 Championship, beat Arjun Maini, an F2 driver and Haas Formula 1 development driver for two seasons, before he switched to European Le Mans. However, much cannot be read into his under-performance as this is just karting to prepare for the new initiative that is being launched by Narain Karthikeyan, the pioneer and first Formula 1 driver from India. Arjun Maini is leading the championship as NK Racing Academy team with 342 over Suriya Varathan of MSport (323), as Kush Maini missed a race due to the death of his grandfather in Round 2. Arjun promptly dedicated his win to the man who was close to his heart and who moulded his character. Sohil Shah replaced Kush, for that race as a reserve driver of the team.

Reigning champion in his class, now in Senior class, Shahan Ali Mohsin completed the podium in both the pre-final and the final. Rubbing shoulders with the country’s top-3 current single-seater star drivers is a boon to the talented MSport karter, who dominated the karting scene in junior classes.

Rohaan Madesh was brilliant in the win today as he showcased his driving skills and exhibited his talent to win one race. But he needs to be consistent to win races regularly in tune with his talent. Rohaan found his wonted form, and won the Pre-final race while Rishon Rajeev displaced him to take the victory in the Final race of Round 5. Rishon is leading the championship by 19 points. He took two wins, two poles and two fastest laps in the five rounds and also suffered engine issues in Round 3. Meanwhile, Ruhaan Alva, who swept everything in the X30 Nationals, but for one race, seems to have been bogged down by issues with the kart and began the Rotax season on a back-foot. But despite the setback, he logged a second place in both the pre-final and Final.

It is another well-known pair of siblings in the karting circles for the past few seasons and that’s Madesh brothers. It is the bubbly Ishaan Madesh, a happy-go-lucky karter, the junior of the two, who catches the eye every time he is on the track. The defending champion’s prime reason for karting is to enjoy, track time or not. Even after the race, he will take his skateboard and play on the track, given a chance. But once he sits in the kart, he is no mean joke. His focus, his skills and importantly his consistent performance are noteworthy. However, he has easily dealt with the competition in his class, and if his energies are channelised properly, and talent and skills fine-tuned, he has the ability to go places, provided he manages to keep the distractions out, which usually creep in as kids grow up. Watch-out for him, especially, as and when he moves to the Junior class. Ishaan of Pregrine Racing with 356 points is leading the championship over Aditya Suresh Kamath of Birel Art (330) and Arafath Sheikh of MSport too has an outside chance, mathematically, to still go for the 2020 title with 329 points in his bag. Sunday’s two races will make the champ!

Rohan Madesh, the elder brother, is much more mature and his driving and times are improving with each year. He has the pace but needs to stay focussed and get consistent results as the Junior class throws many challenges.

Rishon Magehalli Rajeev of Birel Art managed a fourth place in the other race taking in some valuable points while Rohan Madesh could not make it to the top-six in the race which was by Rishon, thus trailing him in championship points. The final round on Sunday will be crucial for both.

Akshat Misra of MSport took a third place in the Junior category while in the pre-finals, while it is Jaden Rahman Pariat completed the podium in the Final and Akshat could only finish sixth.

Provisional unaudited Results:

(Editor’s note: RESULTS ARE NOT OFFICIAL and will be replaced once OFFICIAL RESULTS ARE RECEIVED!)

PRE-FINAL

Seniors (18 laps): 1. #65 Kush Maini (NK Racing) (Time: 14: 27.972; 55.500 Lap 8)); 2. #63 Arjun Maini (NK Racing) (14:29.772 – 55.608 Lap 4); 3. #72 Shahan Ali Mohsin (14:34.816; 55.896 Lap 2); 4. #61 Mihir Suman Avalakki (14:35.447 -55.877 Lap 4); 5. #77 K Suriya Varathan (14:38.106 – 55.710 Lap 5);  6. #68 Raaj Bakhru (14:50.421- 56.098 Lap 4). Grid: 12 drivers;

Junior (12 laps): 1. #27 Rohaan Madesh (11:37.059 – 56.247 – Lap 12) 2. #36 Ruhaan Alva (11: 37.520 – 56.298- Lap 12); 3. #49 Akshat Mishra (11: 37.940 – 56.098 Lap 7); 4. #26 Rishon Rajeev  (11:39.001 – 56.063 Lap 6); 5. #45 Abhay M (11: 39.821 – 56.323 Lap 11); 6. #40 Jaden Rahmat Pariat (11:40.443 – 56.315 Lap 10). Grid: 10

Micro Max (10 Laps): 1. #11 Ishaan Madesh (11.08.065 -1:01.210 Lap 9); 2. #5 Arafath Sheikh (11:11.625 – 1: 01.758 Lap 3); 3. #2 D Nikhileash Raju (11:15.462 – 1:02.156 Lap 6); 4. #10 Aditya Suresh Kumar (11:19.308  1:01.297 Lap 9); 5. #25 Anuj Arun Velraj (11:22.779 – 1:02.698 Lap 4); 6. #17 Zarah Misra (11:28.369 – 1:03.516 Lap 5).

FINAL

Seniors (18 laps): 1. #65 Kush Maini (NK Racing) (Time: 17min, 02.885sec; Best lap: 55.576 Lap 6)); 2. #63 Arjun Maini (NK Racing) (17:09.043 – 55.716 Lap 14); 3. #72 Shahan Ali Mohsin (17:13.796; 56.065 Lap 10); 4. #77 K Suriya Varathan (17:14.177 – 56.125 Lap17); 5. #61 Mihir Suman Avalakki (17:22.494 -56.241 Lap 8); 6. #76 Nigel Abraham Thomas (17:24.934- 56.572 Lap15). Grid: 12 drivers;

Junior (15 laps): 1. #26 Rishon Rajeev (14:46.691 – 56.239 Lap 10); 2. #36 Ruhaan Alva (14:46.927 – 56.247 Lap 12); 3. #40 Jaden Rahman Pariat (14:48.081 – 56.312 Lap 11); 4. #45 Abhay M (14:53.057 – 56.468 Lap 13); 5. #48 Shaurya Kapani (14: 53.320 – 56.504 Lap 10); 6. #49 Akshat Misra (14;58.738 – 56.188 Lap 7). Grid: 10 drivers.

Micro Max (12 Laps): 1. #11 Ishaan Madesh (13.37.211 -1:00.167 Lap 7); 2. #10 Aditya Suresh Kamath (13:48.384 – 01:01.187 Lap 12);

Only 11 laps: #25 Anuj Arun Velraj (12:47.434 – 01:01.423 Lap 10); ?? Arafath Sheikh (13:49.293 – 1: 01.241 Lap 7); ?? #9 Veda Vishnu (13:58.106 – 1:02.282 Lap 3); ?? #12 Rohan Reddy (14:02.273 – 1:01.612 Lap 8);

Only 8 laps: #7 D Nikhilesh Raju (09:39.607 – 1:01.211 Lap 7).