Monsoon Scooter Rally on July 8

"Last year's surprise champion Avtar Singh, former champions Manjit Singh Bassan and Shammim Khan are among the 25 entries we have received so far," event organiser Sportscraft's chief, Shrikant Karani, said at a media conference last night.

Well versed dirt track rider Mujaffar Ali from Bhopal and Chinmoy Bisht from Dehradun are among those in fray for the race whose competitive part also has three laps of 6.5 kms each, according to Karani.

Other leading riders like Shashank Shewale, Kaustubh Machhe, Nilesh Thakre and Babuddin Ansari, all from Nashik, would be seen in action along with Mumbai's former champions Rustom Patel and Kunal Rao, the organising chairman said.

"We are expecting between 40 and 45 entries before the flag-off," he said, adding that the 20km competitive sector will have gravel-laden dirt tracks that would test the skills of the riders as heavy rains are expected in the run-up and during the event.

"We had fixed July 1 as the original date for the event but with the rains keeping off till now we put it off by one week," he informed.