9th Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya 2007 had its share of adventure

Suresh Rana emerge victorious consecutively for the fourth time in the Xtreme category  

New Delhi: The 9th Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya 2007 had its share of thrills and excitement.

Himachal lad Suresh Rana was once again declared victorious in the Xtreme 4 wheeler category. This is his fourth win in a row. Suresh, driving his Maruti Gypsy clocked in with 1:37:15 penalty points followed closely by Harpreet Singh Bawa with 1:52:29 penalty points. Capt A.S. Brar with 1:57:39 penalty points came in third.

In the Xtreme 2 wheeler category Ashish Moudgil with 1:56:57 penalty points came in first followed by Sandeep Singh Matharu with 2:20:04 penalty points at the second place. Sachin R. Chavan came in third with 2:29:41 penalty points.

The third category of Adventure Trial (for amateurs) saw Rajesh Chalana emerging first with 0:15:03 penalty points and Kartik Singh Bedi  and Yogesh Bansal at the second  and third positions with 0:47:46 and 0:54:20 penalty points respectively.

9th Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya slated as India’s highest, longest and toughest motoring event, faced the challenge of rough weather at the high altitude army camp at Patseo. After completing the day-3 from Kaza to Patseo the participants were greeted by heavy snowfall and alpine conditions on the Patseo-BaralachLa leg of the event, forcing a halt.

Owing to the inclement weather in the region and no forecasts of its improvement, the rally organizers, Himalayan Motorsports, decided to call off the event at Patseo and the rally was taken back to Manali. The results were declared taking the cumulative scores of the first three legs into account.

This year’s Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya was originally planned to finish at Srinagar, J&K on 8 th October 2007 after traversing through Simla-Manali-Kaza- Keylong-Patseo-Leh and Kargil.

The winners were felicitated at a gala function at the Directorate of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Prini ,Manali in presence of  Mr. Raman Malhotra, Regional Manager, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. and Ms. Uttra Dasgupta, General Manager, Personal Banking, SBI.  

The 9th Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya was flagged-off from Shimla on October 2 with nearly 120 motorsport enthusiasts (34 in Xtreme 4 wheeler, 49 in Xtreme bike and 59 in Adventure trial) taking the start. Only 58 of them were able to complete the rally – 14 in Xtreme 4 wheeler, 16 in Xtreme bike and 38 in Adventure trial.

Maruti has been actively promoting motorsport in the country. To popularize action sport, Maruti has been organizing professional rallies like Maruti-Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya and Maruti Suzuki Rally Desert Storm.  At the same time motoring events like Women’s Power Drive, Autocross, Treasure Hunt are also organized for families and amateur motoring enthusiasts. 

The 9th Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya 2007 was organized under the aegis of Himalayan Motorsport and is co-sponsored by SBI Personal Banking and supported by Himachal Pradesh Tourism, J&K Tourism and the Indian Army.   

Ravinder Makhaik

As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.

In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.