Chennai Ameo Cup: Karminder the man to beat

The Delhi driver has 216 points in his kitty after two rounds of the Ameo Cup in which he has scored two wins.

Despite qualifying second behind Saurav Bandyopadhyay, on Friday, for the third round during the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship, he will be the one to look out for.

Karminder’s nearest rival is Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite, who is 50 points behind at 166. Mohite has qualified fifth on the grid for Saturday’s action. While Karminder has had two wins and two second places, Mohite has had just one win in the four races held so far.

While it will be difficult to catch up with Karminder, Mohite will have to concentrate on third-placed A Sandeep Kumar. The Chennai driver is just 10 points behind and it will be a tough battle for the second spot. Bandyopadhyay is in the fourth place on the table with 122 points.

This round could be an interesting one since the Thursday night rains in Chennai have rendered some parts of the Madras Motor Race Track water-logged. This meant that the whole round will be run on a short loop. The track distance has been reduced to 2.10Km from the full 3.74Km distance but that should make things more interesting.

The Ameo Cup races in the season, thus far, have produced some good racing starting from the opening round in Coimbatore.

While the top of the grid is bound to be competitive and bitterly fought, there is a big battle brewing down below in the order too.

Debutant Anmol Singh is on 118 points, with Donovan Vaz being 112, Jeet Jhabakh 110, Rashad Khan 102 and Aditya Pawar on 100.