Vishnu Prasad of Meco Racing, defending champion Krishnaraj Mahadik of Mohite’s Racing and Paul T Francis of Meco Racing won the Senior Max, Junior Max and Micro Max races, respectively, in Round IV of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship here on Sunday.
Starting from pole position, Prasad again showed his class and raced brilliantly to beat the best karters of the country. His only threat came at the first corner when Dhruv Mohite of Mohite Racing overtook him.
Prasad fought back to regain first place just after the first lap and led the whole race till the chequered flag. Seeing this tussle, Chittesh Mandody (Mohite’s Racing) and Rayo Racing’s Ameya Bafna overtook Mohite and pushed him to fourth position. Bafna eventually finished second ahead of Mandody. Thus, after Round IV, Prasad leads the championship in Senior Max with 322 points, 14 ahead of Nayan Chatterjee and Bafna who are in second and third places, respectively, with 308 points.
The Junior Max Final race started with an unfortunate collision at the first corner involving all the leading five karters, and due to that pole position holder Kush Maini of Dark Don Racing lost many places.
Mahadik exploited the situation and took the lead and maintained his position to the finish while Dark Don Racing’s Mira Erda and Sri Lankan Eshan David Pieris who were running second and third, respectively, collided, allowing Arya Chirag Gandhi (Rayo Racing) and Akash Gowda (Meco Racing) to take the podium spots.
Mahadik maintained the top position in the Junior Max championship with 344 points, 22 ahead of Gowda while Tejasram of Meco Racing kept his third place with 311 points.
In Micro Max, pole position holder Paul Francis and defending champion Pradyumna V Danigond of Mohite’s Racing went neck and neck, exchanging leads in the opening laps. On the fifth lap, Danigond’s kart stopped studdenly and Francis led the remainder of the race for a comfortable win.
Behind the winner, Nikhil Bohra of Indian Karting finished second but was penalized one position for overtaking under yellow flag and Arjun S Nair (Meco Racing) was elevated from third to second. Despite the failure, Danigond still leads the championship table with 345 points, while Yash Aradhya (Meco Racing) is in second position with 324 points ahead of team-mate Sahishnu Bagamane (312).
Results: Senior Max (Final): Vishnu Prasad (Meco Racing) 1; Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing) 2; Chittesh S Mandody (Mohite’s Racing) 3.
Pre-final: Prasad 1; Dhruv Mohite (Mohite’s Racing) 2; Mandody 3.
Junior Max (Final): Krishnaraj Mahadik (Rayo Racing) 1; Arya Chirag Gandhi (Rayo Racing) 2; Akash Gowda (Meco Racing) 3.
Pre-Final: Kush Maini (Dark Don Racing) 1; Mahadik 2; Gandhi 3.
Micro Max (Final): Paul T Francis (Meco Racing) 1; Arjun Nair (Meco Racing) 2; Nikhil Bohra (Indian Karting) 3. Pre-final: Francis 1; Pradyumna V Danigond (Mohite’s Racing) 2; Bohra 3.