Motorsports: Chittesh tops among seniors

Home favourite Chittesh Mandody of Mohites Racing won the Senior Max category in the fourth round of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Karting Championship here Sunday, much to the delight of local fans.

The joy would have been compounded had teammate Dhruv Mohite not been penalized 10 seconds, which saw him relinquish his third place finish to Rayo Racing's Aryan Gandhi.

Rayo Racing's Ameya Bafna also had a creditable outing, finishing second to maintain his lead at the top of the championship table. After four rounds, Bafna continues to lead the points tally with 147, followed by Vishnu Prasad (133) and Dhruv Mohite (130).

Ricky Donison of BPC Racing won the Junior Max Category, while Meco Racing's Yash Aradhya claimed his third podium in four outings, winning the Micro Max category which was curtailed to eight laps after eight-year-old Kunal Vinod crashed his kart. Thanks to the high quality of safety equipment, Kunal was unhurt, though shaken.

The Junior Max Category saw a renewal of the battle for supremacy between Donison and Kush Maini of Dark Don Racing, even though the latter started the final in 13th position.

Maini kept his head down and moved up through the field and finished second behind Donison. Donison also overtook Maini in the championship points table and is leading with 144, followed by Maini and Rayo Racing's Aaroh Ravindra, both on 140.

Earlier, 12-year-old Yash Aradhya was in total control in the final to emerge convincing winner for his third podium in four rounds. The victory also helped Yash open up a 14-point lead in the race for the championship. Yash is now comfortably ahead with 154 points, followed by Paul Francis on 140 and Shahan Ali Mohsin on 133.

The results:

Senior Max (20 laps): Chittesh Mandody (Mohites Racing) 1, Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing) 2, Aryan Gandhi (Rayo Racing) 3. Junior Max (18 laps): Ricky R Donison (BPC) 1, Kush Maini (Dark Don Racing) 2, Akash Gowda (Meco) 3. Micro Max (8 laps): Yash Aradhya (Meco) 1, Shahan Ali Mohsin (Meco) 2, Chirag Ghorpade (BPC) 3.