Anish Shetty, Bryan Nicholas and Bhuvan Bonu dominate

Part of the 28^th JK Tyre Racing Championship, the weekend saw exciting races in all the three classes as Anish Shetty, Bryan Nicholas and Bhuvan Bonu  came out all guns blazing in Round 1 for a hattrick at the Kari Motor Speedway on the outskirts of Coimbatore.

Anish dominated the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup. To win a hat-trick of races spread over Saturday and Sunday was a sight to watch. If competition in the two-wheeler category was made to look woefully one-sided by Anish, born in Hubli and settled in Bengaluru, he had slogged hard for it. These bikes, weighing close to 200 kg are not easy to tease on the track. Anish showcased fitness and form and above all speed to catch the attention of one an all. The weather pattern over two days was different. 

Saturday was sunny and bright where Anish showed that the rich field belonged to him. He has been racing bikes since age 15. Now, at 30, he is the seasoned master who is reaping the rewards for working hard and pushing his bike. The GT Cup grid is a mix between the seasoned riders and novices who have emerged from a trial of sorts from the street to circuit. Perhaps, one more boy who could match Anish in terms of challenge was Kayan Zubin Patel from Mumbai. Kayan was not as fast as Anish, but the third race of the weekend saw defending champion Navaneeth Kumar from the previous season bouncing back to second place. 

Overall, in the standings, Anish Shetty is way ahead with 30 points. Kayan is at 19 points and Navaneeth at 12 points. “It has been a fruitful weekend and all the hard work paid off,” said Anish Shetty. For the young drivers who were also part of the grid as novices, watching Anish was a learning experience. He showcased speed and style with his bike. Among the amateurs,  Bryan Nicholas from Pondicherry was just too good as he won all three races (36 points). Behind him was Johring Warisa (27 points) from Umrangso. Kabir Sahoch from Vadodara was third in overall standing with 18 points. 

Professionals:

Anish Shetty began the season with a win with a lead of 6sec over Kayan Zubin Patel, Ashish Patel with a further 9sec difference was third.

Anish Shetty for the second time in the race he managed to keep Kayan Zubin Patel behind him but this race it was only three seconds gap, Navaneeth Kumar with over six seconds difference was third.

It was Anish Shetty’s third straight win with over 2sec difference, Navaneeth managed to climb one position up from his previous finish, but was just .100^th of a second difference with Kayan Zubin Patel. 

Amateurs:

Bryan Nicholas managed to win the photo finish race1on Johring Warisa and Saran Kumar with 17sec difference finished third.

Bryan Nicholas  headed to his second win, but this time with a comfortable 5sec margin on Johring Warisa, while Kabir Sahoch finished third with 8sec difference.

Bryan Nicholas also managed to his third top podium finish with over 3sec difference over Johring Warisa and Saran Kumar with 19sec deficit came in third.

In the JK Tyre Novice Cup, Bhuvan Bonu was too fast for the rest of the field. The 15-year-old from Bengaluru, who trains in the United States of America was pushing his car effortlessly. At some stages, it looked like as if he was in a different car altogether. Indeed, to be getting the racing juices flowing all through two days, Bonu was confident. “I kept getting better and better. I enjoyed the weekend,” said the lad.

As for the rest of the field comprising Ojas Surve and Abhijit Vadavalli, it was more of watching Bonu tease his car on two days in succession. He did not want to say much on how faster his car was on an incident-filled last race on Sunday.

Race 1

Bhuvan Bonu fromTeam MSport managed to win the race with a thin margin on Abhijit Vadavalli from Team Momentum, Ojas Surve from Team DTS Racing finished third with over 16sec difference

Race 2:

Bhuvan Bonu was unchallenged as he clinched his second podium with a 13sec margin over Ojas Surve who had a better finish than the previous race, he managed to finish ahead of third finisher Parthik Ashok with less than a second difference.

Race 3:

Bhuvan Bonu became the third participant to be on the podium on top slot with over  21sec difference on Parthik Ashok, Lokithingeash Ravi from Team DTS Racing finished third.