8th JK Tyre National Racing Championship, Coimbatore

New Delhi: The second round the 8th ''JK Tyre national racing championship'' got off to a flying start at the Kari Motor Speedway at Coimbatore. The micro light-flying strip of Karivardhan is India''s second and latest road racing circuit.

The inverted ''b'' shaped track boasts of 900m downhill straight, which pushes racing cars to the maximum speed before braking hard into the right-hander first turn where speeds of more than f 215 kmph for formula LHB and 180 kmph in Esteem saloon can be seen. A 70 stand at the end of the straight road is a racing spectator''s delight.

To top it all, this is the hometown of Narain Karthikeyan, India''s first Formula 1 star that is playing the gracious host to the cream of Indian car racers.

Ayub Khan clocked the fastest lap time in both the races of the Esteem category, while Gaurav Dalal and Amitrajit Ghosh emerged victorious in the two races of formula Maruti category.

Ameya Walavalkar and Sarosh Hataria finished the laps the fastest in Race 1 and 2 of the Formula LGB category respectively.

The ''JK Tyre national racing championship 2005'', now in its eigth year, is being presented by Maruti Suzuki, India''s largest automobile manufacturer.

Category Formula LGB 1300cc

Race 1: The premier category of the championship was action packed with 17 cars lined up at the grid. The scintillating speed of the Esteem engine formula cars provided the adrenaline rush to all the motor sport enthusiasts present there.

The first lap of race one saw a couple of cars retire but the race continued with Ameya Walavalkar leading initially. Sarosh Hataria soon displayed his driving skills and overtook Ameya. Raymond had a poor start but he moved up from fourth position to second position by lap 4.

On lap 5, Rayomand took the lead and Ameya came in second place. Sarosh dropped behind to fourth place. From lap 4 onwards, Ameya and Rayomand traded places, slipstreaming each other on the long main straight where the cars touched a speed of 200 kmph.

Eventually, Ameya took the chequered flag in an exciting fast paced race. Ashok Jadhav won the novice prize.

Race II: Sarosh Hataria drove a brilliant race to take the chequered flag. Rayomand lost out on the first lap but did well to finish fifth. Ameya exchanged the lead with Suresh a couple of times but Sarosh held the lead on the last lap. Ameya made some desperate moves but only managed a fourth place in the end.

Category Formula Maruti:

Race I: Amitrajit Ghosh led from the start in what seemed like an easy win for him again. Rayomand Banajee overtook Ghosh and went ahead on Lap 1. But Ghosh collided with Raymond''s car and the damage forced Rayomand to an early retirement. Gaurav Dalal finished second while Amanpreet Ahluwalia got third place.

Stewards held an inquiry into the incident between Ghosh and Rayomand and ruled that Ghosh be given a 30-second penalty. This pushed Ghosh to fourth place. The revised results, therefore, put Gaurav Dalal into 1st place, followed by Amanpreet and Sunny Sidhu in second and third places respectively.

Race II: Race 2 was another exciting race with numerous lead changes between Ghosh, Gaurav Dalal and Rayomand Banajee. The race saw several cars spinning on the hot track and the yellow flag made its presence felt in the race a couple of times. Ghosh drove superbly to snatch the lead and take the chequered flag from Gaurav. Rayomand nursed his ailing car into third place.

Category Esteem Saloon :

Race I: KE Kumar provided all the excitement in Race1 with his aggressive driving in the category Esteem. His car was badly damaged due to all the action and finished last after Sivaramakrishnan retired. Starting from pole position, Ayub Khan led into first corner and won in the first race. Saran Vikram finished second, ahead of B Vijay Kumar who came in third. Ashwin Sunder got involved in KE Kumar''s antics and finished last.

Race II: Ayub Khan started 2nd on the grid in Race 2 again dominated Category Esteem and finished first in Race 2 in this year''s championship. KE Kumar finished second, followed by Ashwin Sunder. Pole position Saran Sikram spun out on corner 3 into the 1st lap but he steadily moved up ground to finish a creditable fourth.