8th JK Tyre National Racing Championship 2005

The battle for the championship intensified at the MMST track at Irrungattukottai near Chennai, with the penultimate leg today witnessing ups and owns in the premium class Formula LGB and Formula Maruti categories. While the first race of each category was run on the full track(3.7 kms) the second races were run on the shorter track(2.1 km). Formula LGB category as usual continued to dominate and showcased some of the best battles of the day, as the cream of India’s future racers produced some of the best races combining all the ingredients of a thriller. It has been a three way fight for the top slot between Mumbai lad Ameya Walavalkar, Rayomand Banajee from Pune and Sarosh Hataria of Chennai. 16 year Aditya Patel continued to make his presence felt by wrapping up the first race of Formula Maruti and the second race of Formula LGB category. Karna Kadur scored his maiden win in the Formula Maruti category. In the Esteem category Ayub Khan and K E Kumar shared the honors.

Category : Formula L G B In the premium racing category Formula LGB champion leader Rayomand Banajee stood tall as he displayed his dazzling driving skills to grab the lead after starting 5^th on the grid. He went on to win the race despite Mumbai lad Ameya Walavalkar giving him a tough fight in the finishing laps. Pole leader Sarosh Hataria finished in 4^th place. In an action packed Race 2 it was the domination of Aditya Patel right from the start to come up trumps. Championship leader Rayomand Banajee clawed his way back from 5^th in the grid to finish 3^rd which also helped him to retain the lead in the champonship lead and were pushed to 5^th and 8^th places.

Category : FISSME (Formula Maruti) Race 1 in Formula Maruti category was full of action and drama with championship leader Amitrajit Ghosh having to drop out in 6^th lap after his vehicle suffered a technical problem.Pole leader Gaurav Dalal failed to capitalize on his start and slipped down the ladder to end in sixt place. Karna Kadur made the best of the given opportunity to move up and give Aditya a stiff challenge but the latter held on to his lead to take the chequered flag. Rayomand Banajee starting 8^th came out a fighting performnace and moved up 5 places to finish a commendable third. Race 2 saw more upsets as the tops leaders crumbled against the onslaught of the upcoming youngsters Karna Kadur and Karthik Shankar who stole the show with some excellent piece of fast driving to clinch the first and second places respectively. Pole leader finished a disappointing third. Championship leader Amitrajit Ghosh’s woes continued as his engine blew up in the 11^th lap virtually putting him out of contention. Rayomand Banajee who finished in 4^th place moved up in the points position and now leads the championship in this category also with a tally of 81 points. Amitrajit despite his non performance today is not out of the championship race as he has 77 points and is now in second place.

Earlier the Race Day began with the first race in the Esteem category and started with a grid of 7 cars. The two veteran racers – championship leader Ayub Khan and K.E.Kumar - continued their duel for the championship title. K.E.Kumar starting on pole built up a comfortable lead to romp home and take his second win of the championship.. Ayub Khan was unable to match the speed of Kumar and had to settle for 2^nd place, while young Ashwin Sunder after initial hiccups finished 3^rd. Race 2 brought grim news to pole leader K E Kumar who was penalised 20 seconds for a false start pushing him from the 1^st place to 5^th place enabling Ayub Khan who finished 2^nd to be declared the winner. Saran Vikram who finished originally in 3^rd was pushed upto the 2^nd place. B. Vijaya Kumar came in third. Ayub Khan now has a tally of 111 points in the championship with his nearest rival K E Kumar trailing by 20 points.

left to right –starting 2nd from left -Rayomand Banajee, Ayub Khan, Aditya Patel, Karna Kadur, and K E Kumar. On extreme left is Ameya Walavalkar who is overall second in the Formula LGB category.

Pos	Competitor	Timing	Competitor	Timing
1	K E Kumar	15:29:668	Ayub Khan	11:42:739
2	Ayub Khan	15:32:444	Saran Vikram	11:45:605
3	Ashwin Sunder	15:35:496	B. Vijaya Kumar	11:46:702
Novice Prize			Novice Prize
Sanjay Madhavan			Vikram Mathias
Tuner Arumugam			Tuner Satish
Fastest Lap			Fastest Lap
Ayub Khan		02:10:245	K E Kumar 01:15:799

Pos	Competitor	Timing	Competitor	Timing
1	Aditya Patel	22:18:439	Karna Kadur	18:52:877
2	Karna Kadur	22:19:606	Kartik Shankar	18:53:288
3	Rayomand Banajee	22:20:424	Gaurav Dalal	18:55:406
Novice Prize			Novice Prize
-----			Anmol Rampal
Tuner Ramdas			Tuner
Fastest Lap			Fastest Lap
Aditya Patel		02:09:012	Karna Kadur 01:13:950

Pos	Competitor	Timing	Competitor	Timing
1	Rayomand Banajee	18:32:032	Aditya Patel	17:41:903
2	Ameya Walavalkar	18:32:085	Ameya Walavalkar	17:43:805
3	Aditya Patel	18:34:498	Rayomand Banajee	17:51:415b
Novice Prize			Novice Prize
Sivaramakrishnan			------
Tuner Haridas			Tuner P D Sathyanarayana
Fastest Lap			Fastest Lap
Ameya Walavalkar		02:00:922	Aditya Patel 01:09:584

	Esteem	Pts	Formula Maruti	Pts	Formula LGB	Pts
1	Ayub Khan	111	Rayomand Banajee	81	Rayomand Banajee	92
2	K E Kumar	91	Amitrajit Ghosh	77	Ameya Walavalkar	89
3	Saran Vikram	54	Gaurav Dalal	76	Sarosh Hataria	77

K E Kumar

Saran Vikram

Tuner Satish

Aditya Patel

Kartik Shankar

Rayomand Banajee

Ameya Walavalkar