National karting: Pole for Mandody, Maini, Aradhya

The bumpy track proved no deterrent to Kolhapur's Chittesh Mandody and Bengaluru lads Kush Maini and Yash Aradhya who dominated the heats to take pole positions in the fifth and concluding round of the 11th JK Tyre-FMSCI National Karting Championship here Saturday. The pre-finals, followed by the finals, are scheduled Sunday.

Aradhya of MECO Racing, heading the leaderboard, put in a fine performance to win both Heats and qualify for pole ahead of fellow-Bengalureans and teammates Arjun Nair and Paul Francis.

Mandody (Mohite's Racing), lying tied third in the Senior Max category championship, all but destroyed the field to win both the heats in a commanding fashion to qualify for pole.

Occupying the second spot behind Mandody in Sunday's pre-finals will be championship leader Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing) from Mumbai while Kolhapur's Dhruv Mohite (Mohite's Racing) will start third.

Maini of Dark Don Racing, aided by pain-killers, braved a sprained muscle on his right arm following a crash during Friday's practice and also dominated the two Heats in the Junior Max category where he is trailing championship leader and fellow-Bengalurean Ricky Donison by four points.

"The doctor actually advised me not to race, but I decided to go ahead by taking pain-killers. It does hurt, but otherwise I am ok," said Maini, who will be chased by Donison (BPC Racing) and Mumbai's Aaroh Ravindra (Rayo Racing) on the pre-finals grid.

The V-1 track located on the outskirts of this port city and hosting the mega event for the first time, proved rather bumpy and very physical, but the attributes only added to the challenge.

Provisional grids for pre-finals (top 3):

Micro Max: Yash Aradhya (MECO Racing) 1, Arjun Nair (MECO Racing) 2, Paul Francis (MECO Racing) 3.

Junior Max: Kush Maini (Dark Don Racing) 1, Ricky Donison (BPC Racing) 2, Aaroh Ravindra (Rayo Racing) 3.

Senior Max: Chittesh Mandody (Mohite's Racing) 1, Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing) 2, Dhruv Mohite (Mohite's Racing) 3.