Mumbai’s Venkatesh Shetty wins JK Tyre Monsoon Scooter Rally

Nashik, 25 Aug 20018: Braving wet and slushy conditions, defending champion Venkatesh Shetty annexed the JK Tyre 29th Monsoon Scooter Rally title here on Saturday afternoon.

The veteran rider from Mumbai completed the 5-kilometre loop thrice over in picturesque Sarul Village in just 19 minutes and 13 seconds.

He was in his elements as he was the first to be flagged off. He needed just 6.13 minutes in his first run and 6.03 in the third; he recorded the fastest time, a sensational 5.57 minutes in the second run, making it the fastest time of the day.

Cheered on by enthusiastic fans even as light rain lashed the mountainous terrain, Shetty showed amazing control, confidence and courage to tame the dirt track.

Zeeshan Sayed, also from Mumbai, claimed the second place while TVS Racing’s Syed Asif Ali took third place, finishing the entire stretch in 21.36 and 22.19 respectively.

The popular FMSCI-approved scooter rally, organised by Sportscraft and Powered by TVS Racing, had been shifted from Mumbai to Nashik at the last moment but still proved to be a huge success.

As many as 34 riders from different parts of the country, including Mumbai, Pune, Bhopal, Vadodara, Raigad, Panvel and Nashik took part.

There were two lady riders too who enjoyed the challenge of wading through massive pools of water.

Two teams, Aprilia and TVS, fielded their teams too to underline that scooter rallying retains its charm.

“I am very happy that we managed to pull off the rally. We barely had

10 days to put everything in place after our original venue had to be abandoned due to reasons beyond our control,” Shrikant Karani, the well-known organiser, said. “The competitors showed faith in our event and came over to Nashik and rode brilliantly to the delight of the local fans. The local association and the entire city gave us a lot of support,” he added.

Aprilia’s Pinkes Thakkar, among the early favourites, will count himself unlucky as he had to pull out of the rally when he was comfortably placed behind the leader. Some debris flew into his eye in the second loop and he had no other option but to retire.

The winners were rewarded with trophies and cash awards.

Provisional Results: Overall Winners: 1. Venkatesh Shetty; 2. Zeeshan Sayed; 3. Syed Asif Ali

Above 80cc Upto 110 CC – S1  —   2 Stroke (Group B): 1. Rohan Thakur; 2. Nilesh Thakare; 3. Mohasin Shaikh

Scooter Above 110cc Upto160 CC S2 — Geared Scooter (Group B): 1.

Manjit Singh Bassan; 2. Chinmay Bisht; 3. Vicky Jaskaransingh

Scooter 80cc To 210cc  (S-1 to S-3)  — 4 Stroke (Group B): 1.

Venkatesh Shetty; 2. Zeeshan Sayed; 3. Syed Asif Ali

Ladies Class -Open (Group B): 1. Amruta Guruji; 2. Priyanka Singh

Best performance by a first timer In two-wheeler rally: 1. Niraj Wanjale; 2. Saddam Hussain Vanniyar; 3. Sachin Khengle