TVS Racing riders stole the limelight in the Gulf Dirt Track Racing Championship in Jodhpur .Led by strong performances from Bangalore riders H K Pradeep, Pramod Joshua and R Natraj, TVSRacing cornered the glory in what was the opening round of the FMSCI National Championship.
After H H Sri Gaj Singhji flagged off the event at 10 in the morning, the abovementioned trio, all astrideTVS 250 FX, produced an awesome display of riding to win the glamour classes.
The popular Gulf Cup Dirt Track racing series, which has been accorded National status by theFMSCI this year, had thrills galore as 103 riders went through the exercise of high speed racing.Pradeep, Joshua and Natraj, all seasoned riders and past champions in previous Gulf Dirt Trackraces, were engaged in a rousing battle in the two races for Foreign Motorcycles 250cc 2 and 4-stroke. In the end, after neck-and-next racing over the many hairpin bends on the specially-laid outcourse, it was Pradeep’s carefree riding that got the better of his TVS teammates. Both Joshua and Natraj had tosettle for second and third places respectively in both the races.
However, Joshu had the consolation of winning the two races in the Indian Expert Class Group B formotorcycles upto 260 cc 2 and 4-stroke, finishing ahead of Natraj. Both riders were astride a TVSApache in the two races which had only two places for prizes.
The good compliment of motorsport fans that turned up were left in awe as riders went through themotions in the event. The course laid out by organizers Sportscraft was really tough. In additionto the sharp bends there was also loose gravel and water-logged areas to negotiate, which maderiding a dicey proposition. However, all riders, first timers included, displayed excellent skills to comethrough this test of man and machine.
Shamim Khan of Nashik, astride a Mahindra Rodeo, put the lessons he learnt from Sportscraft’s MonsoonScooter Rally to good use to win the class for scooters Group D upto 150cc 2 and 4 stroke Bhopal’sShahdab Ali Khan and Sandeep Parihar of Jodhpur, both riding Kinetic Hondas, finished second and third respectively.
There were two racers for Rajasthan riders — Group C motorcycles upto 165cc 4-stroke and 2-stroke.
Jaipur’s Jes David, astride a Yamaha YBX, won the class for 2-stroke bikes but had to settle for thirdplace in the 4-stroke one. Nitish Sharma and Raju Mathur (Das), both from Jaipur, placed second andthird respectively in the 2-stroke class while Praduman Singh, also of Jaipur, took the honours in the 4-stroke category, with Sandeep Parihar placing second.There was huge cheering when the races for local riders were gone through. Shravan Suthat, astride a Yamaha YBX emerged the best Jodhpur rider, winning Group C for motorcycle 165cc 2 and 4-stroke.Ripu Daman finished second and Suraj Singh Sisodia third.
A Anand of Coimbatore and Bangalore’s Suhail Ahmed, both astride Yamaha 135, were engaged ina keen tussle in the two races of the Private Expert Class for Group B motorcycles upto 260cc 2 and4-stroke. In the end it was fitting that each won a race. The former finished on top in the first race,followed by Ahmed and Bhopal’s Syed Aif Ali in that order, while Ahmed won the second races,relegating Anand and Coimbatore’s K Santosh Kumar to se4cond and third places respectively. After the prizes were given away by H H Sri Gaj Singhji, the crowd that turned up was appreciative ofthe event and the riders too were all praise for Sportscraft’s conduct of it.
The next three rounds have been fixed for November 12-13 (Round 2), December 22-23 (Round3) and December 24 (Round 4), though the venues for the same have yet to be finalised. Pointsgarnered by the riders over the four round will determine the National champion.The big names, like C S Santosh and Aravind KP, missed out on the action due to othercommitments, but they will be there for the upcoming rounds. So expect the sparks to fly in thesecond round when all will be there.
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