There is a board, actually more than one, at the Kari Speedway in Coimbatore, reminding everybody that while motorsport is thrilling to watch and participate in, it’s also a very dangerous sport. During qualifying on Saturday for the second round of the VW-JK Tyre Polo Cup, everybody got a reminder of this when young, but experienced, campaigner Saran Vikram’s Polo turned turtle, and was wrecked as he carried too much speed into a corner. Initially, the brakes were suspected to have failed, but the subsequent examination of the data acquired by the onboard computer showed that it was plain driver error. Consequently, Vikram had to be a spectator as there was no Polo for him to race on Sunday.

With the first round having been on a street circuit in Pune, the Kari Speedway was the first time that the Polo’s were on a proper racing track. The Polo Cup consists of a practice session and a qualifying session on Saturday, and two 20 lap races on Sunday – the second being a reverse grid for the top eight finishers of the first race.

Vishnu Prasad, a 17-year old from Chennai, won the 1st 20-lap race – leading from start to finish in the race, as he became only the second winner of the Polo Cup so far. He completed the race in 27 minutes and 57.043 seconds, and covered a total of 42 kilometres. He was followed home closely by Sahil Shelar of Pune and Karthik Shankar who hails from Hyderabad.

Much was expected of championship leader Sailesh Bolisetti after his sterling show in Pune, and he remained in the top-eight by finishing in a competitive 4th position – moving up from 6th place. Most impressive was the only woman on the grid, super bike racer, Alisha Abdullah, who finished in 6th position after starting in 13th place.

Vishnu had a great start and led comfortably with Sahil Shelar and Kathik Shankar close behind him. Sailesh Bolisetti made a brilliant overtaking move to pass Mohammed Fahad Kutty for 4th position on lap 11. The safety car came out on lap 12, after Suraj Bhagat stopped on track at the second corner due to a collision. It was back to racing when the safety car veered back into the pits with five laps to go. Vishnu had no trouble picking up from where he left off and crossed the chequered flag to win his first race in the Volkswagen-JK Tyre Polo Cup in India 2010.

Round 2, Race 2

The second race ended in disappointment for Mohammed Fahad Kutty, as he crossed the finish line comfortably ahead of the field, only to be told he had received a 30second penalty for overtaking during the formation lap – sad, but rules are rules. The win went to Karthik Shankar instead, but it was not a comfortable win for the commercial pilot from Hyderabad, as he was hounded all the way by Vishnu Prasad through the final five laps of the race. Sailesh Bolisetti, who started 5th on grid and was working his way up the grid, spun out on the 6th lap after a close battle with Imran Majid – so, overall, it was not quite the weekend he had been hoping for.

Karthik was delighted though, and gave credit to a clean start – although he did encounter some understeer in the beginning of the race, which cost him some time. As he put it, eventually Lady Luck worked in his favour.

Round 2 of the Volkswagen-JK Tyre Polo Cup in Coimbatore had a few senior officials and guests in attendance, including Mr. K K Swamy, Vice-President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India Private Limited, Mr. Sashikumar, Chief Executive Officer, Ramani Cars Private Limited, Volkswagen Dealer Coimbatore, and Mr. Rick Bond, Managing Director, Lear Corporation, and sponsor of the 2010 Volkswagen-JK Tyre Polo Cup India.