Nirmal, Mihir star in of national karting championship

Chennai's Nirmal Umashankar and Bengaluru's Mihir Suman Avalakki emerged as the heroes after Round 1 of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Karting Chamionship 2019, X-30 class, at the Meco Kartopia here on Sunday.

Nirmal, a regular in the Euro JK category of JKNRC, proved to be the man with nerves of steel as he strolled into the lead in the senior category. He finished third in the opening race of the day but won the next three to accumulate a total of 36 points.

Delhi's Debarun Banerjee surged to the second spot by picking up 24 points, thanks to his two second-place finishes in the last two races of the round. Local boy M.R. Rishon is on their tail with 23 points with two third place and one second place finish.

In the junior category, Mihir did not have the best of starts, finishing sixth in the opening race. However, he won the next three races to register a total of 33 points to go atop the leaderboard. With three podium finishes and 24 points in his kitty, Mihir's city-mate Arjun S. Nair ended the round in the second spot.

Another local boy and one of the favourites of the championship, Ruhaan Alva, is on the third spot with 23 points. He started the round on a glorious note winning the opening race and finishing second in the next race. It looked like it was going to be his day but a DNF (Did Not Finish) in the third race cost him. He recovered well in the final race, finishing third.

In the cadet category, Ishaan Madesh from Bengaluru took the first spot with three wins and one second place finish with 37 points. Trailing on the second spot is Bengaluru's Saathvik Raju (30 points) and 9-year-old Shriya Lohia (25 points) from Pune.

--IANS

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