JK Tyre-FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship moves to Coimbatore

~Round 3 to be held at Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore from August 16-18, 2013~

~Leaders look to consolidate position after 2 rounds~

Coimbatore, August 16 2013: After 2 exhilarating rounds of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship 2013, India’s leading karters are gearing up for Round 3 to be held at the Speed City of India - Coimbatore. The young stars will be giving each other testing moments at the Kari Motor Speedway from August 16-18, 2013.

At over 1 KM in length, the Kari Motor Speedway is one of the fastest karting tracks in Asia. Being a FIA Grade 4 racing track, the KMS offers many challenges to racers allowing them to display their driving skills in order to prove their metal.

The championship’s 45 drivers in three categories - Micro Max (7 to 12 years), Junior Max (13 to 16 years) and Senior Max (15 and above) – are sure to find it challenging and continue to put in impressive performances during the forthcoming weekend. The qualifying and the heat races will be held on Saturday, August 17, and the pre-finals and final races are scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 18, 2013.

Round 2 of the championship witnessed thrilling moments at JK Tyre-MMS Kartainment Track in Hyderabad, where Meco Racing’s Vishnu Prasad showed his class by dominating proceedings in Heat 1 and Heat 2, and winning both the pre-final and final races in the Senior Max category. Vishnu was in lead through-out the Final Race of 25 laps. Round 1 winner Nayan Chatterjee (Rayo Racing) and defending champion Ameya Bafna (Rayo Racing), who finished at 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively, advanced after Chittesh Mandody’s (Mohite Racing) kart broke down during the race. Vishnu is leading the championship with 172 points followed by Nayan (170) and his team-mate Ameya (162).

In the Junior Max category, Krishnaraj Mahadik of Mohite Racing, who started from the second position on the grid, won the Final race of the Round 2. Tejasram of Meco Racing, who chased Krishnaraj through-out the race, claimed the 2nd position. The eye-catcher of the race was Abhirath Shetty of Meco Racing who started at 9^th position and overtook six racers to clinch the 3^rd position. The talented lad from Kolhapur Krishnaraj is leading the points table with 166 points, followed by Chennai based Tejas Ram at 163 points and Bangalore boy Akash Gowda in third place with 159 points.

In the Micro Max category, Round 1 winner Pradyumn V Danigond continued his winning spree and won the Round 2 of the 10^th JK Tyre-FMSCI Rotax Max National Karting Championship. He led the pack through-out the 15-lap race without giving any chances to 2^nd place finisher Yash Aradhya and Sahishnu Bagamane of Meco Racing who finished third.  While Danigond is at 177 points, Aradhya is not far behind at 171 points followed by Sahishnu at 162 points in the table.

This season two new karting teams have made their debut - Dark Don Racing from Chennai and Bangalore-based India Karting, and both these teams are giving the existing teams - Meco Racing, Rayo Racing and Mohite Racing a run for their money.

Rayo Racing, considered as one of the most competitive teams in the championship has done well with defending Champion Ameya Bafna (Senior Max) steering the pack of aggressive racers like Nayan Chatterjee, Anshuman Chatterjee (both in Senior Max) and Aaroh Ravindra (Junior Max). On the points table, Nayan is just two points behind the championship leader Vishnu Prasad, followed by Ameya and Anshuman on 3^rd and 4^th place respectively.

Meco Racing, one of the largest teams in the championship in terms of the number of drivers is spearheaded by the immensely talented Vishnu Prasad who is leading the points table in the Senior Max class while teammate Akhil Rabindra is at 6^th position with 148 pts. In Junior Max class Meco Racing’s drivers - Tejas Ram, Akash Gowda, Abhirath Shetty and Ananth Shanmugam (placed 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th respectively) are all giving the leader a tough fight. Similarly, in the Micro Max class, the drivers have impressed all with Yash Aradhya, Shishnu Bagmane and Arjun S Nair on 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th positions respectively.

The championship stunners thus far have been Mohite Racing, whose two racers – Krishnaraaj D Mahadik and Pradyumn V Danigund are leading the championship in Junior Max and Micro Max category respectively. The young Pradyumn has shown his outstanding racing skills winning two back-to-back rounds while defending champion Krishnaraj has continued from where he left last year.

Dark Don Racing’s Mira Erda in Junior Max and Rahil Kochhar in Micro Max are challenging top racers in every race. After two rounds, Mira is at 6^th position and Rahil is on 5^th spot on the points-table.

After two rounds, the 2013 championship still open and the competitor are sure to give it their all to win what is the most prestigious grassroots level motorsport championship in the country. The Championship, spread over five rounds is being held at karting tracks in Hyderabad, Coimbatore & Bangalore.

                                                                                                                                                                            

JK Tyre is credited with introducing the concept of karting in India and has patronized karting circuits across the country. JK Tyre together with MECO Motorsports introduced professional karting in 2004 with the introduction of the Rotax 2-stroke kart engines. It was then that the current championship came into being and is today the most revered karting contest in India. World class racing drivers such as Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandhok, Armaan Ebrahim and Aditya Patel have graduated from this karting championship.