Ahluwalia, Nataraj top Dakshin Dare Rally

As expected, Amanpreet Ahluwalia (co-driver Venu Ramesh), driving a Gypsy, won the overall title for four-wheelers while Nataraj Rajanna (TVS Racing) astride a TVS Apache topped among two-wheelers in the Extreme category of the 5th Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Rally which concluded here Friday after covering 2,000 kms over five days.

Ahluwalia, who has been enjoying a good season having won the Sjoba Rally in the north, clocked three hours, 45 minutes to finish well clear of second-placed Suresh Rana (Parminder Thakur), the pre-event favourite, and runner-up in 2010.

Rana, the eight times Raid de Himalaya champion, piloting the Grand Vitara, paid a heavy price for suffering two punctures and getting stranded in the slush on the day two of the event to end up runner-up for the second time. He finished three minutes, 41 seconds adrift of Ahluwalia.

While Ahluwalia and Rana were in a league of their own, Imran Khan (Gagan Vijay), driving a Maruti Esteem, benefited greatly from a clutch of retirements to finish third in 4:42:54.

Nataraj, the 2012 champion, was a class apart and his dominance was never challenged especially after his closest rival and team-mate Pramod Joshua crashed out when leading on Day 3. Nevertheless, it was a near-flawless exhibition of cross-country riding by Nataraj.

The Bangalore-based Nataraj had a time of four hours, nine minutes, 58 seconds, and Saratha, riding a Hero Honda Karizma was second, some 22 minutes behind the winner while Akshay on a TVS Apache ended third overall.

The fifth and final leg of the Rally was run in the Bagrur forest range, about 120 Kms from Coimbatore. While the four-wheelers completed the scheduled three Stages, the bikes could run only two. The third Stage was cancelled just before the bikes could start on the advise of the Police who had to use the Rally route to investigate a crime in one of the villages in the area.

In all, six of the 12 four-wheelers completed the rally while in the two-wheeler category, 11 from the 15 starters made it to the finish line.

Provisional final classification:

Four-wheelers (Overall): Amanpreet Ahluwalia / Venu Ramesh (Maruti Gypsy) 1 (3hr, 45mins); Suresh Rana / Parminder Thakur (Grand Vitara) 2 (3:48:41); Imran Khan / Gagan Vijay (Maruti Esteem) 3 (4:42:54).

Two-wheelers (Overall): Nataraj Rajanna (TVS Racing, Apache) 1 (04:09:58); Saratha (Hero Honda Karizma) 2 (04:32:06); Akshay (TVS Apache) 3 (04:51:53).

Group B-260cc: Nataraj Rajanna 1; Saratha 2; Akshay 3.

Group B-165cc: Nanda Gopal (TVS Apache) 1 (5:00:21); Rakesh (TVS Suzuki) 2 (5:20:33); Vinay Gowda (TVS Apache) 3 (5:26:37).