Good response for Monsoon rally

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, SEPT. 22. The second Monsoon rally, organised by the Bengal Motor Sports Club (BMSC), will be held on September 28 and 29. As many as 30 cars and 20 motorcycles have been confirmed for participation so far.

The rally, replacing the earlier version run by the now defunct Calcutta Motor Sports Club, will be staged in two legs: Kolkata to Jamshedpur and Jamshedpur to Ranchi. There will be two categories of participants. The first will be regular participants competing in both legs and the other will be locals of Jamshedpur and Ranchi from the State of Jharkhand, taking part in the leg two only.

Speaking at a media conference, Mr. Rajat Majumdar, the president of BMSC, said the cars have been divided into two groups based on engine capacity: 1100cc and below and 1100cc and above.

One of the leading English daily newspapers of Kolkata, The Telegraph, and Maruti Udyog Limited, are the title sponsors of the event, in association with IBP and Ranchi-based Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar.

The rally's first leg, to be flagged off by the State Sports Minister, Mr. Subhas Chakraborty, and MD, Tata Steel, Mr. B. Muthuraman, from the Salt Lake Stadium on September 28 at 7 a.m. will end at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur the same day at 4 p.m. After a night halt, the rally will be flagged off the next day for the second leg from the Keenan Stadium at 8 a.m. and will end at the Gymkhana Club, Ranchi, on the same day at 3 p.m.

The rally will be run in the popular Time-Speed- Distance (TSD) format with secret time controls. Competitors will be given a Tulip Chart a minute before the starting time. The rally has been accorded National status by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI). The two and four wheelers will leave at two- minute intervals with motorcycles leaving first. A total of 600km will be covered by the rallyists, out of which 15 per cent of the route will comprise unsealed surfaces like forest tracks, river beds and morram stretches. The rally will pass through some of the picturesque districts of Bengal like Howrah, Hoogly, Burdwan, Bankura and Purulia and districts of Jharkhand, East and West Singhbhum and Seraikella Kharsawan before terminating at Ranchi.

Some of the best known names in the rallying circuit of the east like Bharat Parekh, Jogendra Jaiswal, Biswajeet Choudhuri, Mithil Chakrabarty, Prasanta Paul, Subhojit Kumar and Surjendu Ganguly along with champion driver from the south, Jagannath Balu of Coimbatore and Budhia brothers of Ranchi will be in the fray. For Balu, expected to drive a Maruti 800 as against his competitors' Maruti Esteems, this will be his debut appearance in Bengal after his winning streak at the K-1000 in Bangalore, Scissors in Hyderabad and other rallies in South India.

Daredevil Yamaha rider and team captain K. Prasad of Mysore will be facing competition from Mukesh Thakkar, Sutanu Roy, Valmiki Biswas, Harjeet Singh Dhanjal, Rana Dey and others.

A total prize fund of Rs. 5 lakhs is being offered with the winner of the four-wheeler category winning Rs. 90,000, the runner-up Rs. 75,000, the third Rs. 50,000, the fourth Rs. 25,000 and the fifth Rs. 10,000. The best women's team will get Rs. 9,000, the best novice team Rs. 7,000 and the best tuner Rs. 2,000.

The winner of the two-wheeler category will get Rs. 45,000, the second placed will take home Rs. 37,500 and third finisher will be richer by Rs. 25,000. Apart from overall prizes, Rs. 22,500 will be awarded to first five positions in both legs, including the participants of Jharkhand competing in the second leg only.

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Section  : Sport
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