Jayaram, Rizwan triumph at national racing tourney

Veteran Pratap Jayaram literally set the track on fire in a fully modified Reva on his way to victory in the Indian Open class for cars in the Indian National Drag Racing Championship at the Taneja Aerospace facility near here on Sunday.

Rizwan Khan took the honours in the Superbikes category (Unrestricted).

Jayaram, who last raced actively in 1995 and returned for one-off events in 2010, clocked a bewildering 11.055 seconds for the 400 metres dash.

He would have clocked a faster time but for a seized engine some 50 metres before the finish.

"There is very little original about this little Reva. I worked on it for nearly three months and brought it out for the championship. I would have gone under 11 seconds but the engine seized about 50 metres from the finish," Jayaram said after the race.

True to his team's name, Mantra, Jayaram performed a magic of sorts in the Reva which touched a top speed of 260 kmph while winning the title and was also being the quickest among cars across all classes.

Joel Joseph from Bengaluru won the title in the Unrestricted class clocking 11.992 seconds with Jayaram unable to enter the Reva which could not be repaired in time.

Local lads Pavan Rangaraj (1450cc), Dheeraj Manae (1450cc), Siddharth Sinh Jhala (2550cc), Vineet Abhiram (3050cc) and Vivek Ramachander (2050cc Diesel) topped their respective categories in the Drag Race series that doubled up as the support event for the National Championship.

Earlier, Rizwan Khan, a 29-year-old orthopedic doctor from Mysuru, won the high-end Unrestricted class of the Superbikes category riding the BMW HP4 Competition.

He clocked 09.746 seconds, just fractions ahead of Hyderabad's Mohammed Riyaz.

"I could have gone a bit quicker, but the tyres were worn out a bit and so I was a bit slow," Rizwan said.

--IANS

ajb/vt