Bengaluru, 13 Nov 2016: Veteran Pratap Jayaram literally set the track on fire in a fully modified Reva as he won the Indian Open class for cars in the MMSC fmsci Indian National Drag Racing Championship at the Taneja Aerospace facility near here on Sunday while Mysuru’s Rizwan Khan took the honours in the Superbikes category (Unrestricted).
Jayaram, who last raced actively in 1995 and returned for one-off events in 2010, clocked a bewildering 11.055 seconds for the 400 metres dash. He wo
uld have clocked a faster time but for a seized engine some 50 metres before the finish.
“There is very little original about this little Reva. I worked on it for nearly three months and brought it out for the championship. I would have gone under 11 seconds but the engine seized about 50 metres from the finish,” said “senior citizen” Jayaram.
True to his team’s name, Mantra, Jayaram performed a magic of sorts in the Reva which touched a top speed of 260Kmph while winning the Indian Open hands down while also being the quickest among cars across all classes.
Joel Joseph from Bengaluru won the title in the Unrestricted class clocking 11.992 seconds with Jayaram unable to enter the Reva which could not be repaired in time.
Pavan Rangaraj (Bengaluru, 1450cc), Dheeraj Manae (Bengaluru, 1450cc), Siddharth Sinh Jhala (Bengaluru, 2550cc), Vineet Abhiram (Bengaluru, 3050cc) and Vivek Ramachander (Bengaluru, 2050cc Diesel) topped their respective categories in the MMSC Drag Race series that doubled up as the support event for the National Championship.
Earlier, Rizwan Khan, a 29-year old orthopedic doctor from Mysuru, won the high-end Unrestricted class of the Superbikes category riding the BMW HP4 Competition, just fractions ahead of Hyderabad’s Md Riyaz, clocking 09.746 seconds.
“I could have gone a bit quicker, but the tyres were worn out a bit and so, I was a bit slow,” said Rizwan who divides time between his professional commitments as a doctor and his passion for bike racing.
Provisional results (National Championship):
CARS – Unrestricted: 1. Joel Joseph (Bengaluru) (11.992secs); Stephen Pachigalla (Vizag) (13.166); Jayant V (Bengaluru) (13.898).
Indian Open: 1. Pratap Jayaram (Bengaluru, Mantra Racing) (11.055); 2. Joel Joseph (Bengaluru) (12:042); 3. Jagadish Gowda (Bengaluru) (12.653).
MMSC Drag Race (Pro-Stock, winners only): Pavan Rangaraj (Bengaluru, 1450cc), Dheeraj Manae (Bengaluru, 1450cc), Siddharth Sinh Jhala (Bengaluru, 2550cc), Vineet Abhiram (Bengaluru, 3050cc), Vivek Ramachander (Bengaluru, 2050cc Diesel).
SUPERBIKES – Unrestricted: 1. Rizwan Khan (Mysuru) (09.746); 2. Md Riyaz (Hyderabad) (09.898); 3. Stephen Pachigalla (Vizag) (10.110).
Above 1050cc: 1. Zubair Ali Jung (Bengaluru) (10.647); 2. Mohammed Asif Ullah (Bengaluru) (10.812); 3. Naveen YA (Bengaluru) (11.133).
Up to 1050cc: 1. Rameez Khan (Mysuru) (09.820); 2. Md Riyaz (Hyderabad) (09.874); 3. Rizwan Khan (Mysuru) (09.942).
Up to 750cc: 1. Mohammed Asif Ullah (Bengaluru) (11.530); 2. Aftab Khan (Bengaluru) (11.714); 3. Zubair Ali Jung (Bengaluru) (11.735).
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eom/AP Media Communications release
