Round 4 of the 12th JK Tyre-FMSCI Rotax National Karting Championship just took place over the weekend at Meco Kartopia in Bangalore. Over two days all three categories — the Micro Max Category (7-12 years), the Junior Max (12-16 years) and the Senior Max categories (17 and above) took part in two heats, a pre-final and a final race.
In the Mirco Max category, the Agra boy Shahan Ali Mohsin of team Meco Racing started Heat 1 in 8th place but fought through the grid and won. He dominated the rest of the races, consistently placing first. In the finals, Nikhil Bohra of team Meco Racing placed second even though he was given a two place penalty in the previous race and Ruhaan Alva of BPC racing placed third. These youngsters were lapping the 1.2km circuit in around a minute and were averaging speeds close to 70kmph!
In the Junior Max Category, Mohmmed Nallwalla of Rayo Racing qualified in pole and lead the Heat 1 and Heat 2 from start to finish. However, engine trouble in the pre-final caused him to not finish the pre-final, making him start the final in the back of the grid. In the final, the battle for first and second was extremely intense. Nirmal Umashankar and Akash Gowda were neck in neck through out the race, but on the final lap, an aggressive move from one of them caused the to collide and Nirmal was sent crashing into the tyre wall. Manav Sharma took the lead and finished first while Akash finished second. Meanwhile, Mohmmed had climbed his way up the grid and managed to place third.
In the Senior Max Category, Bangalore lad Ricky Donison of BPC Racing decimated the competition. He led everything, including the heats, the pre-final and final from start to finish. Nayan Chatterjee placed behind him in both the pre-final and final. Ameya Bafna of Rayo Racing crashed out of the pre-final but managed to place third in the final.
At the end of the fourth round, Shahan still leads the championship in the Micro Max Category, Mohmmed leads the Junior Max category and Ricky Donison leads the Senior Max category. The final round of the JK Tyre-FMSCI Rotax National Karting Championship will take place on the 10th and 11th of October. The leaders in the championship are barely a handful of points ahead of their competitors, and it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top after the final round.