Yash, Ameya, Akash win first round of JK National Karting

Eleven-year-old Yash Aradhya put on an inspiring performance as he blazed to glory despite starting from 12th position in the Micro Max category of JK Tyre FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship at the Lahiri Resort here Sunday.

The Bangalore boy, racing for MECO Racing, had a disastrous pre-final round that saw him crashing out after being bumped from behind while in the lead.

He began the final round in 12th position from where he drove a brilliant race to win the 15-lap race in 8:39.008, fraction of a second ahead of his second placed teammate Paul Francis, also from Bangalore.

The Senior Max category was won by Mumbai's Ameya Bafna of Rayo Racing, who upstaged Mohites Racing's Chittesh Mandodi and Krishnaraaj Mahadik to win the 25-lap race in 12:46.062.

There was action galore in the final race of the Junior Max category which saw two drivers being penalised 10 seconds each by the stewards while a third was excluded from the final list as he did not report for scrutiny.

Dark Don Racing's Kush Maini, who obstructed leader Ricky R. Donison of BPC Racing during the race and finished first, was pushed back to third position after the 10-second penalty. Protesting against Maini's rash driving, Donison stormed out of the pit lane before his kart could be weighed, attracting sanction from the stewards.

Akash Gowda of MECO Racing was thus adjudged winner in 11:17.412, followed by Rayo Racing's Aaroh Ravindra and Maini.

The lone girl in the fray, Mira Erda of Baroda, representing Dark Don Racing, had to pay the price for Saurav Manoj's disregard to the blue flag. Holding her own among the boys in the Junior Max category, Mira was in third position till the penultimate round, before she collided into Manoj, who did not give way after being shown the blue flag.

While Mira crashed out of the race, Manoj was largely unaffected by the 10-second penalty as he was already languishing in last position.

It was the experienced Chittesh Mandody who dominated the pre-final of the Senior Max category to gain pole position for the final, but Ameya was off in a flash when the green flag was waved, never giving Mandody any space to squeeze through during the gruelling 25-lap race.

Four more rounds of the championship will be held, with the points from each round adding up for the overall championship at the end of the season.