Narain Shankar, Sudarshan Rao share honours

Chennai, Jun 2 (UNI) Bangalore lad Sudarshan Rao and Chennai driver Narain Shankar shared the honours and set up a clash for the championship title with Karthik Shankar of Team Wallace Sports in the penultimate fifth round of the J K Tyre Junior Racing Cup 2007 at the Madras Motor Racing Track (MMRT) at Sriperumbudur near here today.

In the first race the top three in the grid held on to their positions till the end. Starting in pole position, Bangalore lad Sudarshan Rao of Team Rams Racing, built up a comfortable lead and had no difficulty in emerging the winner. He was closely followed by team mate and Chennai racer Narain Shankar, who fell back in the closing laps. Delhi's Rohit Khanna of Team Wallace Sports, starting fourth in the grid, recovered to finish third.

Championship leader and Delhi racer from Team Wallace Sports Karthik Shankar had a bad outing despite timing the fastest lap of 01:13:25. He had to settle for the fourth place.

In the second race Nartain Shankar of Team Rams Racing was off to a good start which helped him move up past the pole leader and team mate Sudarshan Rao, to build up a good lead. Narain was able to retain the lead till the end. Delhi racer Rohit Khanna of Team Wallace Sports took the second place while Sudarshan Rao came third.

Seventeen Formula Maruti racing cars lined up the grid with competitors from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Kochi and Chennai in fray.

Results: Race 1 (10 laps): 1. Sudarshan Rao- 12:32:765 2. Narain Shankar- 12:34:723 3. Rohit Khanna- 12:39:187 Race 2 (10 laps): 1. Narain Shankar- 12:38:803 2. Rohit Khanna- 12:41:445 3. Sudarshan Rao- 12:45:096 The final round of the championship will be held tomorrow.

UNI