Hyderabad, June 30 (IANS) Round 1 of the JK Tyre FMSCI National Karting Championship got off to a flying start here Sunday as Rayo Racing’s Ameya Bafna took the title in the senior category after battling against nine former champions who were on the grid.
In the junior category, the final was won by Bangalore driver Akash Gowda of Meco Racing ahead of Rayo Racing’s Aaroh Ravindra and Khush Maini from Bangalore of Dark Don Racing.
The Micro Max category was won by Yash Aradhya, followed by Paul Francis and Shahan Mohsin of Meco Racing. Aradhya started the final from 12th position, but cut through the field to win.
Such was the intensity of competition in the Senior Max category that the top 15 drivers had their fastest lap times within a second. It was Nayan Chatterjee of Rayo Racing who bagged pole position after qualifying with a time of 29.77.
The positions of the heats decide the starting order of the pre-finals. Bafna emerged as the best driver after the heats. He started on pole for the pre final after a third place and victory in the two heats.
The start of the pre-final saw 17 karts hurtling into the first corner. In spite of starting from Pole, Ameya lost his lead into the first corner while Chittesh Mandody of Mohite Racing went on to win.
Ameya had a brilliant start in the final. He managed to grab the lead at the start and immediately pulled out a lead of half a second over the next three laps.
This half second advantage of Ameya would prove to be crucial as he managed to hold the gap till the end of the race and win, ahead of the Kolhapur racing duo of Chittesh Mandody and Krishna Mahadik.