PUNE, May 10: When an almost 1000-strong audience anxiously awaits the start of the next race, and then whips the track into a frenzy of screaming and cheering for the competitors even after the performance of a dance group as scintillating as Amitabh's Raw, one realises that Go Karting has finally come of age in Pune.The sweeps and `question mark' bends of 1st Track bore witness to the scene not normally associated with Indian sporting interests when it hosted the finals of the country's first Go Kart racing championship on Sunday. All the races proved to be outstanding displays of driving skill, more remarkable among competitors who have had just over a week's experience with karting.In the Corporate race of 20 laps, the first feature event of the day, Poonawaala Group's Sohail Tapia took the early lead over Eurocar's Rahul Biswas who started off in pole position. Driving very tight over the hairpin bend and past the wide sweep into the straight, Sohail went past Rahul in the second lap to open up a two kart gap which he maintained with a timing of 36.96 seconds on the tenth. Rounding off the lead pack at the finishing line was KP Jehangirjee of HCL Infosys, driving at a speeds of 60 to 70 kmph on the straight. The soft-spoken Sohail drives off with a chauffeur equipped Mercedes Benz for one week among the other prizes that came in his kitty beside the winner's trophy.At the Inter-Collegiate event, on the other hand, all the grid positions were upset in the very first lap when Allan D'Cruz, who had clocked 36.92 seconds in the qualifiers, crashed into the tyre wall and Sanjay Gondkar followed suit almost immediately after he had misplaced Allan. Anand Kumar, starting off in pole position, however soon took control of the kart that was occasionally sliding a bit on the turns, and had maintained a clear lead by the 10th lap with a timing of 36.79 seconds. And as the white flag dropped on the 14th lap, the Wadia college student did a victory jig in his kart, even though he was quick to credit his victory to second placed Rayomand Banaji, who was racing with a broken arm, no less.The next feature event of the day - the men's races of 30 laps - drew the maximum shrieks and howls as Firdaus Bhatena, after a bumper-to-bumper battle with differences of just 0.2 seconds, lost his pole position to second starter Manoj Ahuja who gained an almost two kart lead in the eighth lap with an inside line on the curve.However, Manoj nicknamed `Death Machine' who was leaving for his honeymoon just after the race, saw an unprecedented change of fortunes. After leading for the next eight laps and driving bumper-to-clashing-bumper with Firdaus at the sharp 270 degree bend, `Madmax' Manav threatened to snatch the lead from Manoj and Firdaus as he came from behind to push Manoj to second spot for half of the 16th lap when the latter ran into some slight engine troubles and Firdaus coming from behind, bumped into him to cause a pile-up.Recovering quickly, however, by the 23rd lap Manoj and Firdaus (clocking 35.70 and 35.78 respectively) had opened up a comfortable lead over the rest of the field as it was Manav's turn to be involved in a pile-up with Farukh Sethna. In the end Manoj held the 40-year-old Merchant Navy officer Firdaus out till the finishing line, with Zubin Chinoy coming out a good third.By the time that Lata Seth stepped into her kart at the pole position on the grid, she had already won enough cheers from the crowd by her fearless fire-juggling display in the break. The juggler-cum-dancer-cum-motorcyclist-cum-musical instrumentalist who has just given her standard 12th exams, stuck to her strategy of opening the lead in the first 3-4 laps itself. And it worked wonders for her as there was no serious competition for the under 18 year old who comfortably cruised to first spot at the end of the 10 laps, especially after Anjali Talera lost her timing after skidding and came in two minutes behind, at second place to the beats of the pulsating music that is a hallmark of racing worldwide.Rohan Sheolekar, petrified of being disqualified with a false start, nevertheless took first lead and maintained it all through in the children's race of 10 laps, with eight-year-old Darayus Bhatena, the youngest competitor, following behind at a three kart distance, and clocking under 37 seconds, maintained his pole position till the end to lift the `Young Express Trophy'.1st Track is expecting to hold an `Endurance Go Kart Race' by the end of the month, when the organisers Shyam Kothari, Sunil Pawar and Sagar Chordia expect to acquired more of the 200cc Dino (Denmark) karts to increase the volume of participation. And once they get the special anti-skid tyres, the track will see a wet-track race, one of the most popular Go Karting events in the world. And with the reactions of the crowd, led by an equally vociferous commentator, there promise to be a lot more serious contenders for the title.Till next time, then!ResultsCorporate (20 laps): 1. Sohail Tapia (Poonawala Group) 12:35.35; 2. Rahul Biswas (Eurocar) 12:44.77; 3. KP Jehangirjee (HCL Infosys) 12:51.19.Inter-college (15 laps): 1. Anand Kumar (Nowrosjee Wadia) 9:21.74; 2.Rayomand Banoji (Poona College) 9:36.20; 3. Obaid Hakim (KC College, Mumbai) 9:42.43.Men's (30 laps): 1. Manoj Ahuja; 2. Firdaus Bhatena; 3. Zubin Chinoy. Ladies (10 laps): 1. Lata Seth 6:33.45; 2. Anjali Talera 6:35.57; 3.Sheetal Thadani 6:42.83.Children (10 laps): 1. Rohan Sheolekar 6:24.55; 2. Darayus Bhatena 6:21.11; 3. Stephen Hanssen 6:39.89.
