Ishaan Madesh, Rishon Rajeev and Arjun Maini win their classes at the 2020 National Karting Championship Rotax Max Class

Peregrine Racing’s Ishaan Madesh, Birel Art’s Rishon Rajeev, and NK Racing Academy’s Arjun Maini were crowned the overall winners in the concluding rounds of the 2020 FMSCI National Karting Championship Rotax Max Class, held over the weekend at the Meco Kartopia, Bengaluru.

Starting with the Micro Max class, Ishaan Madesh led both the practice as well as the qualifying rounds, starting the race at the head of the grid. He then went about gathering wins across all three rounds (3,4 and 5) consistently setting fastest times as well. However, it wasn’t as easy as expected, for he was being consistently chased by Pune’s Arafath Sheikh. Arafath, flying the MSport Racing flag, initially came in sixth in the qualifying for the third round (the first one of the weekend), but more than made up for it with a third-place finish in the race.

In the next round, he qualified third, and came in second in the race, tailing Ishaan by a scant 8.767 seconds, followed by Birel Art’s Nikhilesh Raju. In the final round of the weekend, Arafath qualified fourth, but again upped the pace to finish second, this time followed by Birel Art’s Aditya Suresh Kamat. The runner-up spot in the championship was a tie between second-placed Arafath and Aditya, both of whom had an identical 413 points. However, with more wins to his name, Aditya was judged as P2, which meant Arafath was ultimately declared overall P3.

Moving now to the Junior Max class, Rohaan Madesh set the fastest time during qualifying, and took the win in the third round, followed by Ruhaan Alva and Rishon Rajeev. The tide turned in the next race, though, with Rishon Rajeev taking the win, pushing Ruhaan Alva to second place, with Jaden Rahman Pariat rounding off the podium. The trend continued in the final round as well, with Rishon once again taking the win (and ultimately the championship), while Ruhaan Alva came in second during the race, followed by Birel Art’s Abhay M.

In the Senior Max class, the Maini brothers dominated Round 3. Kush Maini qualified on pole, and bagged P1 in the race as well, followed by Arjun in P2 and Birel Art’s Mihir Avalakki in third. The story stayed the same for the next round, with Kush, Arjun and Mihir qualifying at the first three spots. Kush and Arjun once again snatched P1 and P2, while P3 was taken by MSport’s Shahan Ali Mohsin. In the final round, Arjun qualified on pole, followed by MSPort’s K Suriya Varathan and Mihir Avalakki starting P3. Now, Though Arjun ultimately won the race (and bagged the overall title), a DNF from Suriya pushed Mihir to P2, with MSport’s Yash Aradhya in P3.

Lastly, with the conclusion of the 2020 National Karting Championship Rotax Max Class, due recognition was awarded to exceptional performances, by virtue of special prizes. Ishaan Madesh led the proceedings here as well, winning an award for the maximum number of wins, and another for the maximum number of pole positions. Next, the award for the best newcomer went to Aditya Suresh Kamat; and the award for the best driver of the year went to Rishon Rajeev.