Bafna, Donison, Aradhya win national karting titles

Mumbai's Ameya Bafna and Bengaluru boys Yash Aradhya and Ricky Donison survived close battles to emerge champions in their respective categories in the 11th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Karting Championship which concluded at the V-1 track here Sunday.

Aradhya, the 12-year-old sixth standard student of Bishop Cotton's, had a virtually untroubled run in the Micro Max final as he built an early lead starting from pole position and nursed it to the finish line to clinch the championship in style with his fourth win in five rounds.

The Junior Max final was bitterly contested as pole-sitter Donison was quick off the blocks and led until Kush Maini, having started fourth, caught up with him. The two Bengaluru boys fought tooth and nail until Maini made a fine move to go into the lead that he kept to the finish.

Despite the second place finish, London-born 16-year old Donison, a student of Bangalore International School, still clinched the championship, albeit by just four points while Maini finished second.

The Senior Max Finals saw Chittesh Mandody of Mohite's Racing snatching the lead from pole-sitter and teammate Dhruv Mohite to win comfortably. Finishing second behind Mandody was Rayo Racing's Nayan Chatterjee, who slipped past Mohite in the latter half of the race.

Staying away from the battle ahead, 19-year-old Bafna kept his wits about him and seemed content to finish fourth which won him sufficient points to earn him the championship in his class.

Earlier, Aradhya pulled off another brilliant win in the Pre-Final to consolidate his lead in the class championship while Maini could manage only fourth following a racing incident he was involved in as Donison, Ravindra and Akash Gowda finished ahead of him.

The Senior Max Pre-Finals saw Mohite coming up with a late move on front-runner Mandody to win the race while Bafna, driving well within himself and with an eye on his championship, came in third.

Results:

Finals - Micro Max: Yash Aradhya (MECO Racing) 1; Chirag Ghorpade (BPC Racing) 2; Paul Francis (MECO Racing) 3. Championship winner: Aradhya (196 points)

Junior Max (provisional): Kush Maini (Dark Don Racing) 1; Ricky Donison (BFC Racing) 2; Aaroh Ravindra (Rayo Racing) 3. Championship winner: Donison (183 points).

Senior Max: Chittesh Mandody (Mohite's Racing) 1; Nayan Chatterjee (Rayo Racing) 2; Dhruv Mohite (Mohite's Racing) 3. Championship winner: Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing, 181 points).

Pre-Finals - Micro Max: Yash Aradhya 1, Arun S. Nair 2, Chirag Gorphade 3. Junior Max: Ricky Donison 1, Aaroh Ravindra 2, Akash Gowda 3. Senior Max: Dhruv Mohite 1, Chittesh Mandody 2, Ameya Bafna 3.