Ikshan wins 'Road to Rookies' as off-roaders shift to track racing
COIMBATORE : This could be classified as reverse grid in motorsports parlance, but youngsters are making moves at such an early age that Satara rider Ikshan Shanbhag's win in the Race 1 of the Red Bull Road to Rookies could get counted in the trend set by Sarthak Chavan early this season.
Both Ikshan and Sarthak followed their passion for bikes in the national supercross championship for years in their respective age groups - Pune's Sarthak being the youngest at 12 in Junior SX2 category wherein he became national champion last year. Last month Sarthak made a successful transformation to race track riding after getting selected through all-India programme by Honda as he rode the Moto3-spec Honda NSF 250R bike to justify the shift.
On Saturday at the Kari Motor Speedway, Ikshan showed he was not far behind when he won the first race of Road to Rookies beating Pune's Aryan Gurav. Their timings, however, couldn't be classified due to technical issue with the timer.
Vishnu, Chirag win
Meanwhile, Vishnu Prasad and young Chirag Ghorpade sparkled on Day 1 of the 22nd JK Tyre FMSCI National Championship. Syed Muzam mil Ali cruised to victory in first round of support race, the JK Tyre Suzuki Gixxer Cup.
Chirag was the most impressive, taking pole position in the morning and winning his first race in the Novice Cup. The youngster won Race 2 as well to complete a double. The Formula LGB 4 race began as a three-way tussle between Vishnu (MSport), Rohit Khanna (Dark Don Racing) and Ashwin (Dark Don Racing). Ashwin hung on to the lead all the way to the final lap. But the safety car needed to go in and that hurt his momentum and saw him slip to the third place.
RESULTS
JKTyre Novice Cup:
Race 1 : 1.Chirag Ghorpade (Momentum Motorsports); 2.Aaroh Ravindra (Momentum Motorsports); 3.Mohamed Ryan (MSport)
Race 2 : 1.Chirag Ghorpade; 2.Aaroh Ravindra; 3.Parikshit Dardhalli (DTS Racing).
JKTyre Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Race 1) : 1.Syed Muzammil Ali; 2.Tanay Gaikwad; 3.Amul Angadi.
JKTyre Redbull Road to Rookies (Race 1) : 1.Ikshan Shanbag (Satara), Aryan Gurav (Pune); 3.Aditi Krishnan (Bengaluru).
LGB Formula 4 (Race 1) : 1.Vishnu Prasad (MSport); 2.Rohit Khanna (Dark Don Racing); 3.Ashwin Datta (Dark Don Racing).
