The third and final round of the Sportscraft Cup Autocross for two-wheelers, supported by Godrej, Zodiac, Overdrive and Bisleri, on Sunday, September 7, provided thrills galore as riders from Mumbai, Pune and Nashik battled it out at the Godrej grounds in Vikhroli for top honours.
And at the end of almost four hours of intense competition it was Mumbai’s Badal Doshi who emerged the most versatile. He not only won two categories in this final round, but also posted the day’s fastest time of two minutes 16.32 seconds in the class for foreign motorcycles upto 260cc Group A 2 & 4 stroke.
His stupendous effort, astride a Yamaha YZ, saw him claim the the fastest rider of the day.. Favourite Rustom Patel, who had won the first two rounds, finished second behind Doshi on Sunday .Kaizad Patel, who did not participate in the first two rounds, placed third .
However Rustom won the overall Sportscraft challenge Cup followed by Badal Doshis 54 points. . Pune’s Pinkesh Thakkar, with 33 points, was overall third.
Doshi also won the class for motorcycles upto 130cc, Group C – 4 stroke. Today’s victory swelled his tally to 53 points and gave him the overall honours in the class. Rustom Patel, who placed second today, failed to finish among the top three overall, as Pune’s Snehal Chavan, who took third place today, and Malcolm Elavia respectively claimed second and third places overall.
Snehal Chavan, who stole the limelight in the second round, topped the class for motorcycles above 130 upto 165cc Group C – 4 stroke; he was followed by Aamir Dalvi and Ravinder Singh respectively. However, he failed to place among the top three positions overall, which were claimed by as Pinkesh Thakkar (52 points), Amul Satpute (49) and Chinmay Desai (35).
But Chavan did take overall honours in the class for bikes 130cc upto 165cc Group C – 2 stroke. Mumbai’s Gyanesh Shukla, and Pune’s Pinkesh Thakkar and Amul Satpude bagged the top three places in Sunday’s event, but Chavan claimed the overall honours with an aggregate of 57 points from the three rounds. Aamir Dalvi and Rustom Patel placed second and third overall.
Sunday’s final round got rolling with the class for scooters above 160cc Group C 2 & 4 stroke. Mumbai’s former champion rider Kaizad Patel, who missed the first two rounds, displayed his class of old when going around the zig-zag dirst track and winning the category. He was followed by Kunal Rao and Pinkesh Thakkar. Rao, with 45 points, took the overall honours, edging past Percy Billiardmarkar by just a point. Tarak Daiya, with 41 points, was third
