The first edition of the JK Tyre
Xtreme 4Play, an off road event, was held at Chandigarh's Ropar district in
1800 acres of private forest reserve from February 17 to 19, 2017. This was the
biggest off-roading event of North India and was divided into two categories.
One was the Xtreme 4X4 which saw modified mean machines overcoming extreme
natural obstacles. The other was 4X4 Play which had stock cars to deal with
man-made obstacles.
As many as 22 teams and over 60 participants
from different parts of the country took part in this event. After three
gruelling days, the duo of Sidhartha Santosh and Lokesh Shivaraja of the
Bangalore Off-Roaders team (BODA) went on to win the JK Tyre Xtreme 4Play
championship.
They garnered 455 points to
underline their driving skills in tough forest terrain, through water bodies
and also their ability to tackle uphill obstacles. Their three-day work fetched them the title,
the trophy and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh. They were ably assisted by their
co-drivers, Prithviraj A C and Rohith K R, to prove once again that they are
the team to beat in India.
This is the second time that
the BODA team led by Sidhartha and Lokesh have won a JK title, having annexed
the JK Tyre-Orange 4x4 Fury trophy in the picturesque but equally difficult
competition in Dambuk Village in Arunachal Pradesh.
The local favourites Kabir
Warcha and Gurmeet Virdi of Team Gerrari were actually best placed to take the
title going into the final day.They, however, suffered a technical glitch in
the penultimate stage and could not even compete in the final one to pick up
only 20 points. It meant that their campaign ended with an overall tally of 405
points and they had to be satisfied with the fourth place.
If it was any consolation,
their teammates Tejinder Singh and Gurusahib Singh took the second place with a
total of 450 points. They paid the penalty for a very poor run in the night
stage, the first one of the competition. They were almost flawless in the remaining
stages though.
The third place also went to
the team from Bangalore, with Vijay Kumar V and Prashant Venkappa garnering a
cool 405 points. In all 12 teams (with each team consisting of two cars, two
drivers and two co-drivers) from different parts of the country, including
Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Delhi and Haryana, participated.
In the non-modified cars
category, the JK 4x4 Play, Lt. Col. S S Dhaliwal and his co-driver Harinder
Singh Gill won the title. Dr Ritika Oberoi, the only lady in the fray, was
decorated with a special award.
RESULTS:
Xtreme 4PLay:
1. BODA (Sidhartha Santosh and
Lokesh Shivaraja);
2. Team Gerrari (Tejinder
Singh and Gurusahib Singh);
3. BODA (Vijay Kumar V and
Prashant Venkappa)
4x4 Play:
1. Lt. Col. S S Dhaliwal
andHarinder Singh Gill (Privateers);
2. Naresh Sharma and Deepak
Thakua (Privateer);
3. Vijay Kumar and Pradeep
Kumar (Privateer)