GREATER NOIDA : At the beginning of the grand finale weekend of the 19th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship here on Saturday, no title in any category had been decided. And with Day 1 of the fourth and final round gone, it remained the same. But the indomitable Vishnu Prasad will be happiest from the day’s action, for only a miracle (or an absolutely abysmal performance in his case) will see him lose the title, which will be decided on Sunday.
The 22-year-old won both races on the day to virtually clinch the LGB 4 crown. He leads second-placed Raghul Rangasamy, his teammate at Meco Racing, by 19 points, and two points are all he needs to emerge victorious.
“It was a good day for me, and winning the LGB 4 title has been something that I’ve wanted to do for a while now. I’ve won all the other categories here, so it’s going to be a special occasion if I do clinch this one,” Vishnu said.
The Chennai lad is on 86 points, while Raghul is on 67, and the latter will need to win both races while hoping for Vishnu not to score points from both to clinch the title.
The most exciting race of the day, however, came in the Euro JK 16 segment. With Hyderabad’s Anindith Reddy and Ananth Shanmugham of Bengaluru tied first on 76 points each, it was anyone’s game. And the former proved his class, winning both races to give himself a crucial nine-point lead going into the last day at the Buddh International Circuit. “It’s a special day for me,” said Anindith. “To take top spot when my parents were watching,” he added.
Ananth was a bit unlucky, suffering a drive-through penalty in the second race while in hot pursuit of Anindith, and managed to only finish sixth. The biggest beneficiary was Nayan Chatterjee of Mumbai, who was placed third in the points table heading into the weekend. A good showing here has seen him join Ananth on 87 points, and he will be confident of pushing Anindith (96).
Results: Euro JK 16: Race 1: 1. Anindith Reddy; 2. Ananth Shanmugham (87); 3. Nayan Chatterjee. Race 2: 1. Anindith (96 points); 2. Nayan (87); 3. Akhil Rabindra. LGB 4: Race 1: 1. Vishnu Prasad; 2. Raghul Rangasamy; 3. Saran Tmars. Race 2: 1. Vishnu (86); 2. Raghul (67); 3. Saran (49). JK Touring Cars: 1. Deepak Chinnapa; 2. Rajaram C; 3. M Sivaramakrishnan. JK Super Bike 1000cc: 1. Simranjeet Singh; 2. Sandesh P; 3. Dilip Rogger. JK Super Bike 600cc: 1. Gurvinder Singh; 2. Deepak Ravikumar; 3. Vijay Singh.
raviiyer@newindianexpress.com