Nayan wins Senior Max round one of National Karting Championship

Hyderabad: Nayan Chatterjee of Rayo Racing came from behind to win round one of the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting Championship as he edged out his teammate and defending champion Ameya Bafna along with Vishnu Prasad of Meco Racing, here on Sunday.

It was Meco Racing`s Chittesh Mandody, who began the Senior Max category race in pole position and led in the first few laps. Chittesh was receiving tough competition from his fierce opponent Ameya, who started at eighth position, and after four-laps neck-to-neck, dangerously collided with him, forcing him to retire from the race. Around the same time, Nayan, who started at third position and was constantly chasing the top two karters, worked on the opportunity and overtook both racers. Then on, Nayan led the race and wrapped up 2.985 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Ameya. Vishu Prasad, started at second, finished at third position after losing a hard battle with Nayan. "This was a memorable round for me as I started the day from nowhere. I kept improving my driving and kart in each race, which helped me to keep myself in the top five positions. I worked on the opportunity I saw between the top two racers and held my position till the end of the race. It?s a very good win to start the championship," Nayan said. In the Junior Max category, race leaders Kush Maini of Dark Don Racing dominated the race and outplayed other racers. Nayan finished second but was disqualified due to technical issues reported by Race Officials. Third-place finisher Akash Gowda of Meco Racing and fourth-place finisher Mrinal Chatterjee of Rayo Racing were awarded second and third positions respectively. In Micro Max category, defending champion Pradyumn V Danigund of Meco Racing with Mohite dominated the Final, Heat 1, and Qualifying races of Round 1 of the championship. He started at second position and fought a strong battle with second-place finisher Yash Aradhya of Meco Racing throughout the race. Third-place finisher and Bangalore boy Paul Francis of Meco Racing gave tough competition to two racers and managed to overtake them for a few laps. PTI