Gulf Dirt Track National Championship – 2012 Nashik

Bangalore’s Pramod Joshua made it a clean sweep of the glamour events in the fourth round of the Gulf Dirt Track National Championship A round of FMSCI National Championship for motorcycles, in Nashik, on Saturday, as TVS Racing riders continued to rule the roost.

If there were any doubts of the young rider’s class after inconsistency in the previous rounds in Mangalore, Aurangabad and Jodhpur, they were all dispelled at the Chhatrapati Shivaji stadium, in Saturday’s penultimate round.

Sponsored by Gulf Oil Corp. Ltd., leading lubricant manufacturing and marketing company of India conducted by Sportscraft, Mumbai, in association with Nashik Automotive Sports Association the event was flagged off by Advocate Shree Yatin Wagh Mayor, of Nashik.

Displaying good balance on his different bikes, Joshua threw caution to the wind as he emerged triumphant in the both races in the Foreign Expert class for motorcycles upto 250cc 2 & 4 stroke and Indian Expert class 260cc 2 & 4 stroke.

In the Foreign Expert class, astride a TVS 250FX, he went around the serpentine course judiciously to finish a clear first, ahead of his TVS Racing mates from Bangalore, Harith Noah and R Natraj, both of whom were also astride TVS 250 FX.

The second race too finished in the same order as Joshua left no room for error once he forged ahead.

If that was not enough, he went on to make the Indian Expert class to his very own and that of TVS Racing. Astride a TVS Apache RTR 160, he beat back a strong challenge from his Bangalore TVS mates R Natraj and S Madhu, as the riders finished in that order in both races.

After this fine showing, Joshua will have the pressure on him in Sunday’s final leg at the same venue as all the above-mentioned riders will be keen on extracting revenge to finish as champion rider.

Dirt track racing is all about riding at top speed on a specially-laid out, winding track, which is slushy and gravel-laden at many places. The rider has to negotiate serpentine bends while doing several laps. While the riders in the abovementioned classes proved equal to the task, like another Bangalore rider Naresh VS, who ruled in the Private Class for motorcycles upto 260cc 2 & 4 stroke, winning both the races astride a Yamaha 135, there were many who found it tough negotiating the tough course conditions.

These riders were mainly from the Novice class, which was also dominated by Bangalore riders. Yuva Kumar and Abhijit Shetty (both of Team TVS Racing) , astride a TVS Victor, placed first and second respectively in the first race in the category for motorcycles upto 130cc 4-stroke, with Coimbatore’s Jagdeesh Kumar placing third. In the second race of the same category, for motorcycles 131cc upto 165cc 4-stroke, Yuva Kumar was in for a surprise as Jagdeesh Kumar finished first, leaving Yuva and Nashik’s Anish Nair in second and third places respectively. All were astride TVS Apache RTR bikes.

Coimbatore’s C S Anand Kumar won the third race for novices, with R Shreebal, also of Coimbatore, and Shaikh Farid of Aurangabad third. All the three riders were astride Yamaha 135 bikes.

Pune’s Pinkesh Thakkar, astride a TVS Apache, won one of the races in the local class, finishing ahead of Mumbai’s Kanan Naidu (Yamaha YBX) and Aurangabad’s Shaikh Ismail (TVS Fiero).

The second race in the local class was won by Aurangabad’s Satpute. In fact Aurangabad rider swept the first three paces with Feroz Khan and Shaikh Ismail placing second and third respectively. All were astride Yamaha 135.

Saturday’s nail-biting action had the goodly compliment of spectators in awe. Certainly, motorsport fans can expect much more tomorrow (Sunday) as these leading riders line-up for a final flourish.

Results