New Delhi :

Kush Maini created history when he became the first Indian driver ever to win a WSK ( World Series Karting) race at the La Conca international Circuit in Muro Lecce in the southern Part of Italy on Sunday the 3rd Feb 2013.

Kush who drives for Team Baby Race was third overall in qualifying out of over 41 entries in the 60 Mini category. All the participants were divided into 4 groups for the elimination heats as once 34 would Race in the Finals.

Kush was in Group C and won two of the heats while coming second in one of them. This entitled him to the Pole Position for the Start of the prefinal Race which was once again the first time for an Indian to start on Pole Position.

The Prefinal which was run over 8 laps of the 1.25 km circuit was extremely well fought with the top 4 drivers. Kush struggled a bit on the pace and finished third in the Prefinal. The Finals started with Kush in the third Place and on the very first Corner Kush moved into second Place behind Martinez.

Martinez pulled off an early lead and Kush was maintaining a distance of about 6 kart lengths as both were lapping at the same Lap times. Meanwhile Pagano who was in third showed extremely fast pace and was catching up to Kush. Soon Pagano overtook Kush and was on his way to catch up with Martinez. Kush played the waiting game and followed Pagano as both of them started to close on Martinez.

On the Eight lap Pagano overtook Martinez and on the 9th lap, Martinex took the lead again except that all the three drivers were driving like a train with no gap in between.

The three of them had broken away from the Pack and it was a very close and exciting race. On the very last Corner Pagano tried to make a move on Martinez and they both touched slowing down Martinez momentarily and also forcing Pagano off the track. Kush who was right behind Seized the opportunity and made a brilliant Pass on martinez which went all the way to the chequered flag where Kush finished just a mere.019 seconds ahead of Martinez in the most exciting nail biting finish of the weekend.

Kush was extremely happy with the win and was continuously punching the Air to celebrate his victory.

On the Podium Kush was looking up again and again to make sure that he saw the Indian Flag that was rising behind him at the Podium Ceremony.

Kush with the three other European Champions for the other 3 events were then invited for a Press Conference to share their experience for the day.

Kush was very happy and said “I have been driving Karts from the age of 5 and started racing at the age of 7. I spent last year racing in Italy which was a great learning experience for me as I also got several podium finishes in many of the races. However WSK is the biggest race for me and to win here is fulfilling the start of a Dream to become one of the best Drivers. I am now looking forward to the balance three races of the Master Series as well as the two races of the Euro Series.”

Kush was very happy to share the same platform as Max Verstappen, Bocallachi and Alesio Lorandi.

Kush’s Elder brother Arjun Maini did not have a good start to the event as some Kart issues prevented him from Qualifying in the front. He had a bad crash on the first Heat and followed it with a top 10 position in the second. However he has to be content starting the prefinal A in 23rd Position.

Earlier in the day Arjun was 3rd fastest and this gave him some hope to fight his way from the back of the grid. He drove brilliantly to make 10 positions and finally finish 13th in the KFJ category. This meant that he would be starting in 25th position in the finals that was run over 16 laps. Once again he had an excellent drive and finished 14th.

Still in pain from the crash on Saturday Arjun said, “It was a very tough weekend as I had a very bad start on Friday and Saturday but was very happy with the way I drove on Sunday to finish 14th from over 60 of the world’s best drivers. I will work hard to come in the top 5 for the races to follow.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Racing / by Arani Basu, TNN / February 09th, 2013