The sixth edition of Monsoon Drive, one of eastern India’s most coveted TSD (time-speed-distance) rallies, culminated on Sunday evening with Calcutta duo Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta winning the prestigious motor sports event with 65 penalty points making it their sixth consecutive win in 2017. The team of Uday Ganguly and Amit Kumar Saha finished second with 80 penalty points, followed closely by rally veteran Jogendra Jaiswal and Nagarajan Thangaraj in the third position with 83 penalty points.
There was a grand prize distribution ceremony and a musical show at the seaside destination of Digha on Sunday evening. The ceremony was graced by Tamluk Lok Sabha MP Dibyendu Adhikary and other dignitaries.
Monsoon Drive 6 was flagged off at Country Roads, a popular weekend retreat nestled in the lap of nature at Panchla in Howrah district on Sunday morning. Competitors drove down to the industrial town of Haldia in the first leg of the rally and got a restart from the Haldia helipad. They were flagged off for the second leg by Chairperson of Haldia Municipality Shyamal Adak, Indian Oil Corporation Executive Director C.K. Tiwari and Haldia Dock Complex General Manager Amal Dutta.
In this leg, the competitors navigated through Haldia town and narrow rural roads before hitting dirt tracks that took them through idyllic rural Bengal. The tracks cut through lush green paddy fields and fish ponds as well as villages dotted with mud huts, and presented a tough challenge to the competitors. This leg traversed through 30 kilometres of challenging dirt roads and 15 kilometres of village roads.
Dibyendu Adhikary observed that the ‘safe driving’ objective of the rally is in perfect sync with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Safe Drive Save Life’ mission. “This rally will encourage youths of this part of Bengal to take up motorsports,” he said.
“We are absolutely thrilled to win this rally. We have had podium finishes at many rallies organised by Just Sportz, but this is the first time we are in the first position,” said Nirav Mehta. The Monsoon Drive 6 is the sixth consecutive win for Subir and Nirav, who have won very prestigious rallies like ‘Dakshin Dare’ and the ‘Taj Agra Rally’ in recent months this year. “We have been participating in all Just Sportz rallies like the Himalayan Drive and the Monsoon Drive and we have had podium finishes, but this is the first time we have come first. We have broken the jinx,” he added.
Significantly, Monsoon Drive also witnessed participation from renowned rallyists from other parts of the country as well. “I look forward to participating in Monsoon Drive because of the new challenges it poses ever year and also because this rally is so well organized,” said Mohammed Musthafa, a top-ranking navigator from Erode in Tamil Nadu who has many national wins under his belt.
There were also five novice teams. Of them, the team of Soumyajyoti Das (driver) and Bijoy Mazumdar (navigator)–both first-time rallyists–scored the minimum penalty points and emerged in first position. “It has been an awesome experience. There are many things I learnt and I shall be participating in more rallies from now on,” said an ecstatic Soumyajyoti.
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