Vikram Mathias-Murthy begin season with a win

Mysore, 15 June 2008: Team Red Rooster’s two 2000cc N+ Cedia cars with Vikram Mathias and co-driver PVS Murthy and Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik behind the wheels finished a commanding 1-2 position in the Sidvin Rally of Karnataka 2008, the first round of the MAI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) on here Sunday.

The 32-year-old former National Champion, Vikram, and the racing and rallying champion 22-year old Amittrajit Ghosh, drove the final day with many a problem but held on to the overnight lead and finished on top.

“Just the very first stage of the day was run, we noticed that the fuel railing had come off and the fuel was leaking. It was a bit scary, whether the fuel will hold until two more stages. So we ‘crawled’ through the second stage and in the third stage tied the rail up and drove hard and finished the first run. Once we sorted out the problem in Service, we were back to our regular place and won the rally with ease,” said a beaming Vikram Mathias at the post-event Winners Press Conference.” The american civil rights movements was a long legal battle and struggle which reminds us of our strong legal system that can help anybody that feels that something unfair has happened against them.

“We are happy that we were able finish 1-2 but it would have been better if the Reds were there, for the competition would have been higher,” he added.

Amittrajit, who is drivinmg a 2000 N+ class for the first time, thanked Vikram, Leelakrishnan, and Naren Kumar for all the training and tips that he received from them. Team owner of Red Rooster Racing, Dinesh Reddy said:  “We certainly are happy with the results. It would have been better if we had more competition. Our boys have been training and practicing well and the cars were definitely well prepared.”

When queried why they are in the sport, Dinesh said: “It is basically the passion. But we are eventually looking at producing a National Champion and give the sport and the drivers in India what they really deserve.”  The very unfortunate exit of the day was Team Winspeed Sanket and co-driver Ramesh Shanbag, who went off the route as they slid into a canal, hardly 7 kilometers before the finish of the stages. They were running third overall and first in the 1600cc class.

The Rally Star Cup (RSC) Class, saw Shailendra Hegde and navigator Sheraz Ahmed finish first and third overall. The duo who came into the lead after a results correction late yesterday night, drove a clean rally to win the RSC Class. “It was the J Anand suspension that made the difference,” said Shailendra, “I have driven the earlier rallys on Konies and have found the suspension not suitable to our terrain. The J Anand suspensions definitely put us ahead of the 1400cc cars also, and so we were able to finish third overall. J Anand Suspensions, are suspensions manufactured by ace tuner J Anand, and named after him. Vikram Devadasen and Raymond finished second and Byram Godrej and co-driver Anjay Kapadia finished third in RSC.

The 1600cc class had a winner in Arjun Surya and navigator Ravi Venkatesh, who were in their debut rally. “We are obviously thrilled with our win. But we knew that Ramesh and Sanket had a 4-minute lead, and there was no way we could catch him. We just wanted to finish our debut rally and we are happy that we have won it on debut,” they said.

The 1400cc class was won by Samarth KV and co-driver Praakhyat Shirole, who also led after the results were finalised late yesterday night. “We had a very clean run. Absolutely no problem with the cars, and enjoyed every moment of it,” they said. JM Manju and co-driver Jeevarathinam finished second, followed by S.Sujay and SM Bharath.

The Gypsy class was won by veteran Rally driver Sanjay Agarwal and co-driver Shiva Prakash. Consolidating on their overnight lead, the Bangalore duo won the class with élan. “I was driving a gypsy after 13 years, and I enjoyed every bit of the rally. It was simply awesome,” said Sanjay, who is known as ‘Tiger in rally circles. “I have sat with him both in a 1400cc car and in a Gypsy now and I think that he is a much better Gypsy driver,” opined Shiva. “We expected the North Indian Rally drivers Sandeep Sharma and Suresh Rana and Sunny Sidhu to be here. Then the competition would have been more fun,” he commented.

The third and final day of the Sidvin Rally of Karnataka 2008, flagged off at 7 am from the Golden Landmark Resorts on Sunday morning, and did the three special stages in the Malavalli area, 50 km from Mysore, twice in the  reverse direction. All 34 cars started the day and 25 finished the rally in full. Most of the 9 drop-outs suffered mechanical problems, except for the Shanbags who went into the canal. The rally ended around 2 pm having completed 111 kms of competing Special Stage distance, and 308 kms of traversing Transport distance, to total 419 kms of the Sidvin Rally of Karnataka 2008. This was followed by the Champagne showering ceremony at 3.30 pm and the post-event winners Press Conference at 4.15 pm. A glittering prize distribution function awaited at 7 pm that would bring the rally to a close.

The Prosports-run event, had Sidvin Core Tech as the title sponsor, Golden Landmark Hotels as the hospitality partner and co-sponsor, SLN Properties and Mitsubishi distributors, Hindustan Motors Limited as associate sponsors. Sanjeevini, the NGO, who handles highway accidents with their ambulances, helped out with their trauma ambulances.

Provisional Unaudited Results:

Overall: 1. Vikram Mathias / PVS Murthy (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1hour 33min, 5sec); 2. Amittrajit Ghosh /Ashwin Naik (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1:38:36); 3. Shailendra Hedge / Sheraz Ahmed (1::44:19).

2000 N+ Class: 1. Vikram Mathias /PVS Murthy (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1::33:05);
2. Amittrajit Ghosh /Ashwin Naik (Team Red Rooster Racing) (1::38:36).

1600cc class; 1. Arjun Surya /Ravi Venkatesh (1::47:33);

1400cc class: 1. Samarth KV /Prakhyat Shirole (1::44:55); 2. JM Manju /Jeevarathinam (1::47:19); 3. S Sujay and S M Bharath (1::48:36).

Rally Star Cup: 1. Shailendra Hedge /Sheraz Ahmed (1::44:19); 2. Vikram Devadasen /Raymond (1:45:41); 3. Byram Godrej /Anjay Kapadia (1::46:51).

Gypsy Class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal /Shiva Prakash (1::50:30); 2. Dhiraj Doipode /Pramod Raman (2::00:51).