It was raceday two, the final battle for the JK Tyre National Racing Championship silverware. The grandstands were packed, the racecars and superbikes were roaring past, and championship points were still up for grabs. The two EuroJK18 races held on Sunday were neck and neck, wheel to wheel but Karthik Tharani charged away from the points tie-up with Nayan Chatterjee and took home the Silverware. Raghul Rangasamy stays glued to the top to be named the LGB Formula 4 Champion for 2018. All-in-all the JKNRC ended on a high note, with a very exhilarating stunt show by motorcycle stunt teams, our very own Hari Singh’s team of precision drivers, the infamous Terry Grant and RedBull athlete Aras Gibieza.
The Last race of the LGB F4 class was dramatic, as the top racers battled it out at every corner. Defending Champion, Vishnu Prasad of MSport had an 6-point lead and a possible championship crown. The last race however was unlucky for the MSport driver, as he lacked the pace to keep up with the rest of the fast racers. Teammate Raghul on the other hand, took advantage of this and sprinted past for the second position. Vishnu’s lack of pace only earned him one point, while Raghul’s second place finish earned him the coveted title, the Champion of the JKNRC LGB Formula 4. The winner of that race, Dark Don’s Rohit Khanna managed to give a tough fight, enough to put him in third place on the Championship leaderboard.
“I didn’t know I had won the Championship when the podium ceremony was taking place,” Raghul said at the press conference. “I got to know only after I came to the pits. It’s an amazing feeling to be the national champion,” he added.
The third race was an easy win for Nayan, taking a huge lead over Karthik and Arya Singh. Nayan managed to sprint passed the finish line for victory. Karthik managed to stay put to second place while Arya Singh finished a commendable third place. The fourth race, a reverse grid making it a tough championship brawl for the leaders, with Karthik and Nayan starting in fifth and sixth position. During the second lap, Nayan collided with Manav Sharma forcing both of them to pull out of the race. Karthik however was in a league of his own, with a major boost from fifth to first during the sixth lap. Increasing his pace on every lap, Karthik managed create more than a second gap between him and Yash Aradhya. Karthik charged to victory, while Yash finished in second place and Brayan Perera completed the podium. The EuroJK18 Champion however, was none other than Karthik Tharani, due to an unexpected collision Nayan had to settle with second place on charts.
The last Suzuki Gixxer Cup race was won by Malsawmdwngliana giving him enough points to run for second place in the championship. Even though Joseph suffered a setback in the last race, his points game being strong, earned him the title of Suzuki Gixxer Cup Champion for JKNRC 2018. Syed Muzammil Ali had to settle with third place.
Malsawmdwngliana also turned out victorious in the prestigious Asia Cup of Road Race, ahead of top Asian bikers. Australia’s Max Stauffer and Sri Lanka’s Hansika Abeysinghe took the second and third positions.
Euro JK 2018: 1. Karthik Tharani; 2. Nayan Chatterjee; 3. Ashwin Datta
LGB 4: 1. Raghul Rangasamy; 2. Vishnu Prasad; 3. Rohit Khanna
Gixxer Cup: 1. Joseph Mathew; 2. Malsawmdwngliana; 3. Syed Muzammil Ali
What happened on day one of the JKNRC 2018 Round four? find out!