Naren-Ram thrill crowds winning in the Rajasthan desert tracks

By David Bodapati

Jodhpur, 19 Sept 2010: Come-back king Naren Kumar, with veteran navigator Ram Kumar in tow, was in his elements as he thrilled the Sunday crowd with controlled aggression in the Super Special Stage but still kept his cool to finish the rally for a second successive victory in the Rally of Rajasthan, the third round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship 2010 for cars to firmly entrench Team Red Rooster Racing on top of the leaderboard for manufacturers as the first rally in Rajasthan ended here with a sizeable crowd enjoying the daring feats of the drivers.

The third round of the high-octane Speed INRC also helped the champion from Coimbatore to take the lead over former champion and Red Rooster teammate Vikram Mathias by three points. Naren who got 10 points for this victory will now have 27 points to Vikram’s 24. Red Rooster Racing’s Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) finished second but it was Lohit Urs and Srikanth Gowda of Team MRF who scorched the tracks at the Chamia Polo ground to set the fastest time in the `triple s’ to clock 1 min 53.2 seconds, a fraction of a second faster than second placed Ghosh.

Regarded as the most prestigious event in Indian Motorsports, the 3^rd round, Rally of Rajasthan, of Speed INRC was organized by Sportscraft under the aegis of FMSCI and is promoted by IMG Sports and Pro-Sports Promotion.

Driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia in the 2000 cc N+ category, Naren Kumar and co-driver Ramkumar were not back in the contention for the National title after a disappointing start in the first event at Nashik. Teammate Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik too bagged valuable points to come back into striking distance.

Sponsored by Bharat Petroleum’s SPEED brand, the Jodhpur round turned out to be a thriller with defending champion Gaurav Gill of Team MRF taking the Maharaja of Jodhpur on a joy ride around the circuit and then did his sliding drifts which sparked seat-edged excitement to the spectators today. Gill crashed out yesterday and could not officially compete today.

Bangalore duo Rahul Kantharajj and Vivek Bhatt pipped arch rivals Shailendar Hegde and Sheeraz in the SSS today and took the honours in the 1600cc class while Vishal and Robinson finished third.

However, it was Kerala pair Dr Bikku Babu and Bonnie Thomas who are unsung heroes as they not only won the 1400cc class but comprehensively defeated  higher-rated cars and drivers finishing overall 8 ahead of all 1600cc cars. Byram Godrey and Anjay Kapadia were second in 1400cc category.

Venkatapathy MR and Santosh Kumar won the Rally Star Cup while Maj Amrinder Brar and Lt.Col Himanshu Parek from the Army Adventure Wing came out triumphant in the Gypsy class.

Provisional Unaudited – Final Classification:

Overall: 1. Naren Kumar / Co-driver Ram Kumar, Red Rooster Racing, 35:50.9; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik, Red Rooster Racing, 36:36.8; 3. Lohit Urs/ Srikanth Gowda, Team MRF, 37:12.9;

Group 2000cc N+: 1. Naren Kumar / Co-driver Ram Kumar, Red Rooster Racing, 35:50.9; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik, Red Rooster Racing, 36:36.8; 3. Lohit Urs/ Srikanth Gowda, Team MRF, 37:12.9;

Group 2000cc N: 1. Girijashankar Joshy / Chandramouli M, Ovion Racing, 40:10.9; 2. Sujay Suresh/ Bharath SM 41:23.1; Sirish Chandran/ Nikhil Pai Team Overdrive 42:05.1;

Group 1600cc N: 1. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Bhatt privateer (pvt) 42:56.1; 2. Shailendar Hegde/ Sheraz Ahmed, pvt 43:30.6; 3. Vishal GA/ Robinson, pvt 48:04.6;

Group 1400cc N: 1. Dr Bikku Babu/ Bonnie Thomas, pvt – Kerala, 41:49.0; 2. Byram Godrej/ Anjay Kapadia, pvt, 47:54.0; 3.Sanjay Sikand/ Koka Rahul Rao, 49:33.4;

Group Rally Star Cup (RSC): 1. Venkatapathy MR/ Santtosh Kumar S, 44:52.0; 2. Harikesav N/Ashvin Nadig, pvt, 45:10.8; 3. Kaushik H Shinde/ Ninand A Mirajgaonkar, pvt, 47: 01.0;

Group Gypsy: 1. Maj Amarinder S Brar/ Himanshu Pareek, pvt – Army Adventure Wing, 47:16.6; 2. Harpreet Singh Sidhu/ Sanjay B Gokhale, AA Wing, 48:16.5, 3. Sameer Pandey/ Honey Narula, Pvt, 48:32.5.