Coimbatore, 1 August 2010: Pramod Joshua of Team TVS Racing began the season with a bang making it a hat-trick of wins in Coimbatore after he convincingly beat teammate KP Arvind by 1 min 26 seconds in the opening round of the MAK FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship for bikes at Kethanur, about 45 kms from here, on Sunday.
Riding a TVS Apache in the Group B 4 stroke, 130 to 165cc class, the Bangalore rider was humble in his moment of triumph thanking the almighty for his victory. “I was fortunate to take a good lead and pull away from my teammates. But with the loose gravel and slippery stages it was tough to keep the lead. I was so happy to win for the third time here,’’ said Joshua.
Reigning national champion KP Arvind, who over shot some fast corners early on, never recovered and had to be content with a second place in the class. ``I am happy with the second place as I made some mistakes and today Joshua was good. I am looking forward to making up in the other rounds of the Nationals,’’ said Arvind.
Local star Venu Ramesh Kumar riding a Hero Honda Karizma won the 210 to 260 class in Group B 4 stroke to complete a hat-trick here. Earlier he won the Coimbatore leg in 2008 and 2009 in upto 130 cc category. The 41-year-od veteran from Coimbatore kept his cool as the difficult terrain kept the riders on their toes. He would be teaming up with Vijay Kumar to navigate in the four-wheeler Speed FMSCI INRC next Sunday. He beat Chetan Ganapathy by 17 seconds today.
In the Group B 2 stroke, Asad Khan and R Nataraj won the upto 130 cc and upto 165 cc classes respectively. In Group D 4 stroke, Dhananjay B in the upto 130 cc class while Sharath Kumar finished first ahead of R Raja and Rayan Peter in the upto 165 cc category.
Of the 40 entrants, 31 finished the day as the tough terrain took its toll.
An IT professional by career and a motocross rider by passion, Mr Surjith K.S is the man behind MotoXIndia.com
