Vishnu Prasad wins first round of 12th JK Tyre National Karting Championship

Rishabh Bhaskar Updated: June 22, 2015, 05:38 PM IST

Meco Racing's Vishnu Prasad put on a brilliant show on his way to winning the first round of the 2015 JK Tyre Rotax Max National Karting Championship in the Senior Max Category. Vishnu was disqualified after the second heat on Day One owing to non-conformance with technical rules. As a result, he had to start the second day's pre-finals from P5.

Winners in the Senior Max Vishnu Prasad with Nayan Chatterjee and Dhruv Mohite on the podium for the Senior Max Category

However, the experienced champion drove brilliantly in the rain and managed to move up the order for the final race wherein Nayan Chatterjee of Team Rayo Racing was in the lead for over half the race distance. Vishnu was second and closing in on Nayan with each passing lap.

RR_NayanChatterjee_seniors (2) Nayan Chatterjee of Team Rayo Racing lost his lead in the race due to a silly mistake

The final few laps were pure edge of the seat action as the two were engaged in quite a duel. Eventually, the experience and skill of Vishnu saw him move past Nayan with a few laps to go. "I made a small mistake and lost the lead," said Nayan after the race. There was no looking back then as Vishnu pulled away with a comfortable lead. Nayan, meanwhile, was coming under intense pressure from Dhruv Mohite from Mohite's Racing. By the time the chequered flag was waved, Vishnu maintained P2 with Dhruv in third.

The Junior Max category's podium Akash Gowda, Mohammed Nalwala and Nirmal Umashankar on the podium for the Junior Max Category

In the Junior Max Category, Akash Gowda of Meco Racing won after a gruelling battle with his contenders. He was amongst the many who opted for slicks after the rain had let up and a dry racing line was clearly visible.

RR_MohammedNalwalla (1) Mohammed Nalwala made a stunning comeback to second after falling to fourth in the final race in the Junior Max Category

Mohammed Nalwala of Rayo Racing, who was on pole after winning the pre-final, lead for the initial laps. His gamble of opting for slicks seemed to pay off too. However, as the laps progressed, Mohammed began falling down the order. Akash took over the lead and Mohammed slid to fourth. However, during the closing stages, he dug deep and managed to claw his way back to second before crossing the finish line. Nirmal Umashankar finished third.

Winners in the Micro Max class_JK Tyre National Karting Championship Sahan Ali Mohsin, Ruhaan Alva and Arjun S Nair on the podium for the Micro Max Category

The Micro Max category was dominated by Agra boy Sahan Ali Mohsin. He won both the Pre-Final and Final races, leading from pole to flag. The young racer has been competing at the Asian level too and paddock talk suggests he will be one to watch out for.

Overall winners of the Micro Max, Junior Max, Senior Max Vishnu Prasad (centre) with the winners in the Junior Max and Micro Max categories

With Round Two set to take place from July 25 to July 26, 2015 at the Chicane Circuit, it would be interesting to see how the racers progress during the course of the 2015 championship.

Image courtesy JK Tyre, Rayo Racing

Shahan Ali Mohsin, Akash Gowda & Vishnu Prasad lead in the Micro, Junior & Senior Max categories in Round 1 of the 12th JK Tyre-FMSCI Rotax National Karting Championship 2015

It was a wet race on Day 2 as it rained throughout the day making the track conditions even more challenging for the competitors. The day started off with warm-up races followed by the pre-finals & final races of each category namely Micro Max, Junior Max & Senior Max. The pre-finals race in the Micro Max category saw Shahan Ali Mohsin from Agra dominating the race from get-go. Shahan had an untroubled run throughout the race and he built an early lead starting from the pole position and maintained it to the finish line. Finishing in second was Nikhil Bohra from Bangalore fom Team Meco Racing and Arjun Nair from Bangaore finished in the third place. In the Junior Max pre-finals, Mohammed Nallwala outpaced Akrash Gowda who was in the pole position in the start of the race. Yash Aradhya who gave a tough fight to Mohammed had to settle in for a second place. Nirmal Umashanker from Chennai who started in the sixth place drove brilliantly and finished in third. The pre-finals race in the Senior Max category witnessed the maximum action. Ameya who was leading the pack in the initial few laps fell back to the fifth place given the tough competition by Nayan who was in the attacking mode today. It was a close fight between Nayan and Dhruv Mohite but Nayan finally managed to outbreak the pack and maintained his lead. Vishnu Prasad who was disqualified yesterday started from the fifth place and finsihed third in the race. Shahan Ali Mohsin continued to dominate the category in the final race and clinced the number one position. Nikhil Bohra could barely hold his second place and had to make way for Ruhaan Alva. Ruhaan who had started the race in the fourth place managed his way up in the race and finished second ahead of Arjun Nair. The Junior max race was bitterly contested as pole sitter Mohamed Nallwala could not hold his first place for long in the 18 laps race. Bangalore lad Akash Gowda fought hard and took away the chequered flag ahead of Mohammed. Nirmal Umashaner from from Chennai overtook Yash Aradhya and finshed third. The drivers in the Senior Max cateogry fought tooth and nail from start to finish. Nayan lead most part of the race but the fight got down to the wire in the last two laps when Vishnu made a fine move in one of the corners and overtook Nayan. Vishnu kept his lead till the finish. Kolhapur boy Dhruv Mohite gave Nayan a tough fight and drove his way to a third place finish. The top three winners of each category were awarded in the podium ceremony which was held after all the races. The 12th JK Tyre-FMSCI Rotax National Karting Championship wiill come back to Hyderabad for its second round which is scheduled from July 25-26, 2015 at the Chicane Circuit.

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