Ruhaan clinches National championship in Junior Class; Ishaan, Suriya consolidate lead

David Bodapati November 1, 2020

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Ruhaan Alva (taking the flag) clinched the National X30 Karting Championship in Junior Class with a round to spare on Sunday at Mecokartopia. Photo by David Bodapati

By David Bodapati

Bengaluru, 1 Nov 2020: Defending champion Ruhaan Alva of MSport clinched the National Championship in the Junior Class with a round to spare in the Meco Motorsports fmsci National Karting Championship X30 Class at the 1.240-km Meco Kartopia track near Bagalur on Sunday.

The 14-year-old Bengaluru speedster knocked off two more victories on Sunday to complete a clean sweep of Round 4 too but saw stewards strip his Race 2 win following a protest. Thus, he won 14 of the 16 races in the first four rounds. With four more races remaining in the final round to be held in November, Ruhaan has pooled an unassailable 150 points over second-placed Rohaan Madesh, who garnered 109 points thus far. The final results after stewards clearance saw Ruhaan lose three points as he was demoted to second and Rohaan Madesh was promoted to a win, but still, Ruhaan managed to retain the Championship title. Akshat Mishra, also of Bangalore, is in third place on the leader board after four rounds with 71 points ahead of Guwahati lad Jaden Rahman Pariat on 61.

Meanwhile, it was a contrasting style in the Cadet Section, where championship leader Ishaan Madesh had to fight for his points with Pune youngster Sai Shiva Makesh, who offered a tough fight before ending up second, in both the races today. Ishaan, who took 3 wins from four races, bagged 140 points to Sai Shiva’s 112. With yesterday’s win in the first race of Round 4, Sai managed to take the title battle till the last round. Both the races saw a close finish today with Ishaan defending well and winning the first race by just 0.162 seconds and in the final race, Sai did manage to take the `fastest lap’ but ended up second trailing by just 0.2sec. Anshul Sai, who completed the podium in both the races today, is a distant third in the championship table with 98 points after four rounds.

Cadet Class Championship leader Ishaan Madesh (centre) flanked by Sai Shiva Makesh on his left and Anshul Sai at the Prize Distribution event at Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru on Sunday.

In the Senior Section, Suriya Varathan, the 17-year-old from Coimbatore, consolidated his position at the top winning a race and then losing the final race to Rishon Rajeev, who shifted from Junior Class to Senior class after Round 3. Defending champion and strong contender Nirmal Umashankar of Chennai kept himself in contention with a second place and a third place. Suriya has 138 points going into the fifth and final round of four races while Nirmal, stays at a striking distance with 111 points. Bala Prasath who was off-colour today and could only get a third place in the last race. Bala is in the third spot on the points table in Senior class with 87 points.

Clerk of the Course Sandeep said that,``all precautions were taken to make sure that the incidents on the track were controlled and the event concluded with a lot of close racing that ensured competitive stuff.”

Fayaz of Meco Motorsports, the Promoters, said that “all the guidelines were followed to make sure that the drivers, mechs and others were safe. Face masks and social distancing was made mandatory.” The event concluded with prize distribution in the afternoon. This is the third Motorsports Nationals in India to resume after the Corona-induced break, after Drag Nationals and 2-wheeler Sprint Nationals. The National Racing Championship for cars is expected to start at Chennai next Sunday while the Indian National Rally Championship is scheduled to start at Itanagar in December with a double-header.

Winner Suriya Varathan, centre, flanked by 2nd-placed Nirmal Umashankar, left, and Bala Prasath, who came 3rd, in the final race on Sunday in the Senior Section.

Results (official final classification) after Sunday races: Round 4:

Seniors (15 laps): Race 3: 1.Suriya Varathan (Coimbatore) (14:50.418); 2. Nirmal Umashankar (14:51.142); 3. Rishon Rajeev (Bengaluru) (14:53.583); Best lap: Rishon 56:165. Race 4: *Rishon Rajeev (14:45.174); 1. Suriya Varathan (14:45.483); 2. Nirmal Umashankar (14:46.383); 3. Bala Prasath (14:48.122). Best lap: Nirmal 56.438. *Rishon disqualified for being underweight.

Top-3 Championship table: 1. Suriya Varathan 138; 2. Nirmal Umashankar 111; 3. Bala Prasath 87.

Juniors (12 laps): Race 3: 1. Ruhaan Alva (Bengaluru) (11:29.738); 2. Rohaan Madesh* (Bengaluru) (11:32.699); 3. Akshat Mishra (Bengaluru) (11:43.912); Best Lap: 56:166. Race 4: 1. Ruhaan Alva (11:30.705); 2. Rohaan Madesh (11:38.824); 3. Abhay Kumar (Bengaluru) (11:43.989). Best lap: Ruhaan 56:369. 10-second penalty added for Rohaan Madappa for jump start.

Top-3 Championship table: 1. Ruhaan Alva 150; 2. Rohaan Madesh 109; 3. Akshat Mishra 71;

Round 4: Cadet (10 laps) Race 3: 1.Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru) (10:46.542); 2. Sai Shiva Makesh (Pune) (10:46.704); 3. Anshul Sai (Bengaluru) (10:55.438); Best Lap: Ishaan I:01.944. Race 4: 1. Ishaan Madesh (11:23.917); 2. Sai Shiva Makesh (11:24.169); 3. Anshul Sai (Bengaluru) (11:35.476). Best lap: Sai Shiva 1:02.010.

Top-3 Championship table: 1. Ishaan Madesh 140; 2. Sai Shiva Makesh 112; 3. Anshul Sai 98.

Editor’s note: Results updated after official results were released with protest result.