Ashwin, Ajay dominate motor races

Chennai: Ashwin Sundar showed his newly developed racing muscles to make a mockery of the challenge in winning the Formula Rolon Chevrolet class in the fifth round of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship here Saturday. Ashwin, the 20-year-old from Chennai and representing Speed-NK Racing team, was streets ahead of the rest in terms of pace and racecraft that he has honed after a couple of seasons in Europe. In the event, he simply ran away from the eight-car field for yet another commanding performance. Coming in behind him was Gaurav Dalal of Red Rooster Racing who all but gave up the chase midway through 10-lap race with Ashwin, who had missed the previous round due to his international commitments, showing no signs of easing up.Championship leader Saran Vikram crossed the line third and just did not have the pace to match Dalal, much less catch up Ashwin. Earlier, Ajay Kini of Wallace Sports dominated the Formula LGB Swift race after starting from pole position after seeing off some early overtures from two TVS Girling entries, Sudarshan Rao and Narendran who finished in that order. However, the stewards issued a revised result by taking away Narendran’s podium finish and handing it to Prithveen Rajan who had originally taken fourth position. Narendran was docked a 30-second penalty for “pushing” Rajan off the track at the start of the race. Meanwhile, in the Super Saloon car race, it was veteran B. Vijaykumar from Coimbatore who was in his elements as he won from start to finish. The Formula Hyundai Endurance race over 45 minutes saw only six cars on the grid and five finishers with Sudanand Rajan coming through quite comfortably. The second race of the double-header round will be run Sunday.The results: Formula Rolon-Chevrolet (Race 1 - 10 laps): Ashwin Sundar (Team Speed-NK Racing) 1; Gaurav Dalal (Red Rooster Racing) 2; Saran Vikram (private entry) 3. Formula LGB Swift (Race 1 - 10 laps)): Ajay Kini (Wallace Sports) 1; Sudarshan Rao (TVS Girling) 2; Prithveen Rajan (Wallace Sports) 3. Formula Hyundai Endurance race (45 minutes): Sudanand Rajan (Wallace Sports) 1; Akhil Devaraj (Rams Racing) 2; Shravan Reddy (Rams Racing) 3. Super Bikes (Experts) Race 1 (8 laps) - Rohit Giri (Bangalore) 1; Vivek Pillai (Chennai) 2; Praveen Kirthi (Chennai) 3. 1000cc: Alok Shashidhar (Bangalore) 1; V Vikram (Bangalore) 2; Gopinadhan (Bangalore) 3. Novice: Sumit Lucas T (Ranchi) 1; Balaji KV (Bangalore) 2; M Gautam (Chennai) 3. Super Saloons (Race 1 - 10 laps): B Vijaykumar (Prime Racing) 1; Radha Selvarajan (RAD Racing) 2; Akbar Ebrahim (Prime Racing) 3. IANS