Rallyists thrill coffee country

Ooty: Coorg and rallying go hand in hand. It was back to thrilling 'coffee country' for some high speed action on the second day of the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare.
The day began after the overnight halt in Mysore, as usual in the wee hours of the morning. It was a 100km drive. Thankfully, the highway allowed for a high speed run. Once in Polibetta, where the stages were run, the lush green coffee plantations were a welcoming sight. After some setting up work, it was back to the fast action. The local people proved to be a rather enthusiastic lot, shouting and cheering as the cars and bikes went past. One coffee plantation worker even asked, "Is Sebastien Loeb coming in his Citroen car?" Maybe the six-time world champion will turn up after a few more years when the World Rally Championship comes to India.

The day's schedule included three stages, which were to be run twice each. The stages were nine, 16 and 11 km long. Some of the stages were pretty smooth, while others were perfect for off-road vehicles. That must have been something drivers like overnight leader Niaz Ali (co-driver Kim Epton) in a Suzuki Grand Vitara, Suresh Rana (Ashwin Naik), Sachin Singh (Nikhil Pai), both in Maruti Suzuki Gypsy vehicles, would have enjoyed. But for rally driver Prithvi Dominic (Jeevaratinam), who was in a Mitsubishi Cedia, the bumpy roads proved to be a nightmare. To top it all, several competitors went off at a certain turn in the third stage.
Nine cars in the Ultimate category were running out of the 12 that started on the first day. Sachin Singh and Khushwant Randhawa went out but are likely to rejoin on Thursday. Shailendra Hegde (Shiraz Ahmed) went out on the first day itself.

Team TVS rider KP Arvind, the overnight leader, too had a bout of misfortune. The swing arm on his TVS motorbike broke in the morning and he could not continue on the day. However, he will continue the rally on Thursday under the super rally format.
After the stages in Polibetta till the afternoon, it was a treacherous but amazing drive from Coorg to Ooty, where the entourage is halting for the night. The 200km drive was no piece of cake either. Though it was only the transport stage and ample time was given to the competitors to report at the final time control checkpoint for the day, rain and fog did not make things easy. More than the car drivers, it was the bikers who had to face the elements. The added difficulty was the numerous hairpin bends that one had to negotiate on the way up.

On the third day of the event on Thursday, the stages will be run outside the town and on the way to Coimbatore. The stages will be much faster than on Wednesday and there should be some good action.