COIMBATORE: On Saturday, Vishnu Prasad made his debut race in the Euro JK17 category a memorable one. The onus was on him to make it even more special on Day two of the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship.
In Anindith Reddy and Nayan Chatterjee, he had two who were always going to push him hard, but his resilience came to the fore as he walked away with the honours in Race Three and Four on a windy day at the Kari Motor Speedway on Sunday.
With reverse-grid coming into play, Vishnu had to start at P6 and had to get past Nayan at P5 and Anindith at P4. The Chennai-lad is known for his opening burst. Though he couldn’t get the lead immediately thanks to Vikash Anand, he kept close to his tail.
If Race Three was a bit tough, Race Four was almost a walk in the park for Vishnu. In the last race of the day, he had the advantage of starting in pole position and that virtually shut the door on the rest. Though he managed to win all three races up until then, the only thing missing in his cap was not having the fastest lap, and he made amends for that with a timing of 1:01:246 minutes. Anindith took home the second position while Nayan grabbed the third.
If Vishu was sublime in the Euro JK category, Chittesh Mandodi stood out in the LGB4 category. The
Kolhapur lad, challenged Vishnu like no other driver did. The lead kept shuffling between Chittesh and Vishnu and by the time Saran Vikram joined them, it became even more intense. Though Saran ran out of steam, Chittesh after grabbing the lead, found himself in total control for the rest of the race and even took a good three-second lead over Vishnu. In the opening race of the day, Chittesh, despite starting at P7, had no problems what so ever for his second successive victory in the category.
In the Suzuki Gixxer Cup, Joseph Mathew once again stole the show. Aizawl’s Malsawmdwangliana (second) and Lalmawipuia (third) did their best, but the former was way ahead of his pack. The story was similar in the JK Tyre Red Bull Road to Rookie Cup. Sri Lanka’s Jaden Gundwardena clinched the race with S Varoon from Chennai coming second.
Results: Euro JK 17 Race 4: 1 Vishnu Prasad; 2 Anindith Reddy K; 3 Nayan S Chatterjee; Euro JK 17 Race 3: 1 Vishnu Prasad; 2 Akash Gowda; 3 Vikash Anand; LGB4 Race 3: 1 Chittesh Mandody; 2 Vishnu Prasad; 3 Saran Vikram; LGB4 Race 2: 1 Chittesh Mandody; 2 Vishnu Prasad; 3 Sandeep Kumar; JK Tyre Redbull Road to rookies Cup Race 2: 1 Jaden Gunawardena; 2 Varoon S; 3 Lalhruaizela; JK Tyre Suzuki Gixxer Cup Race 2: 1 Joseph Matthew; 2 Malsawmdawngliana; 3 Lalmawipuia.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com