One of the toughest and challenging motorsports in the world Raid de Himalaya has already been taking a toll on the participants while it’s just the third day of the rally.
The day started from Kaza and the competition circled itself within the Spiti valley with the rallyists crossing Dhankar and Koumic monastaries.
Navdeep Thareja, area coordinator for Raid told MH that out of the 21 cars that set out today, two dropped out because of technical failures. While out of the 22 bikes that started for the trail today, only 21 have survived the Xtreme category. In all 40 vehicles have retained in the Xtreme section.
However, the results aren’t yet official. As per the latest reports, the day has passed well and no injuries or mishaps have been reported.
Tracking the Raid is one tough communication link to establish.
The Rallyists move about in such isolated terrains where probably only Geosat phone networks can reach them.
Only flashes of BSNL mobile and landline signals are able to get there.
And phones of some of the big names in the game Airtel, Reliance and Company simply fade out as one moves beyond Rohtang Pass into Spiti Valley.
I guess for them profits matter more than the social obligation that the public sector stands by.
Official Raid Day two results out
Under the Xtreme Cars category, Suresh Rana is still leading with 42.30 minutes penalty points while Sanket Shanbagh (51.18) is at the number two position. Gurdeep Singh Grewal (51.41), Harprit Singh (52.04), Maj Shakti Bajaj (54.21) are at number three, four, five positions respectively. It is notable that each of the first five are in Gypsy MPFI.
Under the bikes, Bhasker Ramanion on a Yamaha WR 450 is leading with 43.21 minutes penalty points. He is being chased by Ashish Moudghil (Honda Karizma) pretty close at 52.25 minutes. The third, fourth and fifth place was taken by Sandeep S. Matharu (64.04) riding Bajaj Pulsar 200 DTS-I, Chetan Ganapathy (65.36 ) on a TVS Apache RTR and Prashant Kumar PK (Yamaha WR 250) at 65.37 minutes respectively.
Day three results are expected within an hour…
thanks a lot for the results update Neha. eagerly awaiting the leg 3 results. hope u post them as soon as they are out!!