JK Tyre Racing Championship 2016 concludes at the BIC

The 2016 JK Racing championship reached its last leg – Round 4 – which was held at the Buddh International Circuit, Noida. In addition to the Euro JK 16 (Formula BMW), Formula LGB 4 and JK Touring series that were part of the earlier rounds, the weekendat the 5.14km circuit also featured races in the Superbike 600cc and 1000cc categories. Here’s how race days 1 and 2 of the final round panned out. 

Euro JK 16

No matter the track, no matter the format, Vishnu Prasad has made it a habit of taking home the top spot in the GLB races this season. However, since round 3, he has also made it a habit of clinching victory whiskers ahead of Raghul Rangasamy. The fight between these two racers is quite a sight, with Rangasamy leaving barely any breathing space for Prasad, chasing the latter right from when the lights turn green, till past the chequered flag. Race 1 and 2 came to the same conclusion; Vishnu Prasad crossing the finish line first, followed by Raghul Rangasamy and Saran Tmars. Although Tmars has consistently been finishing on the podium, the Chennai boy, in his own words, is playing safe and not attacking in a bid to consolidate his third position in the championship, especially since his car hasn’t been in perfect form from the start of the season. 

Day 2

Vishnu Prasad started the final LGB 4 race with the 2016 championship trophy nearly in his pocket. However, as usual, Raghul was not going to make it any easy, as he tail-gated the season winner for most of the race. A few mistakes by Raghul during the latter half of the race though, meant that Vishnu had a clear lead at the finish line, unlike the neck-and-neck finish the LGB4 races usually have.   

Besides the fight for the top-spot, the battle for the third podium finish was also a hard fought one between Saran Vikram Tmars and Bryan Perera. Perrera moved past Tmars in lap 3, and the two volleyed the third position between themselves. However, by lap 6, Perera made it clear that there was no passing him. 

Racer Rohit Khanna, a strong performer in the previous rounds, however had a bad final weekend at the BIC. Not only did he not finish on the podium even once during day 1, his engine blew in the second lap on day 2, and he hence couldn’t finish the race.

 

It was an easy win for Deepak Paul Chinappa, who finished a comfortable 32-plus seconds ahead of his closest competition Rajaram C in the eight-lap race. At the start, he was tailed by Vijay Kumar B and Varun Anekar. Both of them withdrew from the race owing to technical difficulties. Ashish Ramasamy too dropped out of the race due to technical difficulties in his blue Esteem number 59. 

Day 2

Ramaswamy had little to worry on the final day of Round 4, as he already had the championship in his bag in Round 3 at Kari. Sadly, his engine blew during the last race, and so, the racer from Coimbatore couldn’t complete the race. Deepak Chinnapa managed to cross the finish line first, ahead Rajaram C and M Sivaramakrishnan, bagging both races in the final round. 

Gurvinder Singh didn’t take any time to blitz past his competition, reaching third position in lap 2, and grabbing pole by lap 3, passing Vijay Singh and then Deepak Ravi Kumar. Deepak went on to lose his runner-up spot to Vijay Singh in lap 4, post which, there wasn’t much movement in the positions during the race. The race between the top-three, however, was a closely fought one. 

1. Gurvinder Singh; 2. Deepak Ravikumar; 3. Vijay Singh

Day 2

Deepak Ravikumar, runner-up from day 1, managed to stay ahead of the pack, and was, like on the previous day, followed by Vijay Singh. However, Kulwant Singh was the new podium entrant on Sunday, with Gurvinder Singh unable to maintain his winning streak from Race 1. Gurvinder finished fourth in the race, but stood second overall in the championship, behind Deepak. 

 

 

Day 1
At the end of lap 1, Rajini Krishnan had a clear three-second lead on Simranjeet Singh. However, a faulty bike resulted in the 2015 Malaysian Superbike Championship winner backing off from the race, handing over the top spot to Simranjeet (father of 600cc class winner, Gurvinder Singh). He was followed by Sandesh P and Dilip Rogger at positions two and three.

 

In the 30-strong grid, Sandesh P bagged his second podium finish for the weekend; this time a pole position, ahead of Simranjeet Singh(winner of Race 1) and Aakash Rajshakha. Sandesh and Simranjeet equalled on the points tally, but Sandesh having led the qualifiers, was declared the championship winner. Dilip Rogger, who finished third and fourth in races 1 and 2 respectively, completed the championship podium.