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The 3rd round witnessed a marked increase in the entries, with 34 entries received..though some of the first-timers still had loads to learn, and ended up failing scrutiny..hope they'll be back for the next round, better informed and prepared! 28 bikes cleared scrutiny. Ready to Roll.... 
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8:00 AM: Officials running to their vehicles for final deployment before the controlled recce. A total of 10 radio official cars were located along the 8.4 km track, along with 2 ambulances and 4 additional Police radio cars. 
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8:30 AM: The riders briefing before the controlled recce. 
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9:00 AM: Riders line up for the controlled recce..though most have them have memorized the route, curve to curve / rock to rock by now! 
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9:30 AM: Kick off!! Yogesh Lakhani flags off for Lap 1. There was fight brewing in this round..Yogesh and Rajan Sidhu were tied for the Championship (Group C) lead before this round, and both had put the gauntlet down for each other.. 
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Yogesh guns for it..it was time for outright glory, and he scorched the track..blazing a time of 10:15 in the 1st lap itself..a time that could not be beaten the entire day. 
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Rajan Sidhu tried..tried hard, but was just no match for Yogesh on this day. He clocked 10:27 in the first lap, his fastest lap-time for this round. 
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One of the surprises of the day was first-timer Umang Saxena, driving a LML Graptor in Group A, and setting some lap-times that had even Yogesh worried. He screamed to a 10:27 time in the 1st lap itself! 
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Narinder Pal Saini from Mohali tries hard to chase the top boys down.. 
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Rominder from Solan on the uphill gravel... 
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Chirag Thakur, a Shimla boy..emerging from the forest!!! 
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And now for one of the revelations of this event..a first time competitor from Shimla riding in his first ever event..Aneesh Awasthi. This boy had everyone cheering for him, not only coz of his radical riding style..but for the sheer pace he was exhibiting on a stock Pulsar. This guy has a future..and I can't wait to see it!! Here are a few shots of him...PS: Don't miss the feet-on-rear-foot-pegs posture..!!    
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Sun Dorcha Sherpa from Shimla gets wobbly on the uphill gravel..... 
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There were spills galore in this round..Saurav Vyas, running 2nd in the Himachal Category Championship, gets completely foxed by an innocuous looking metal pipe running through the track...like many others! 
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Narinder Pal Saini on the uphill gravel 
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The track included a 3 km tarmac downhill section...technical, really fast and with some hairpins thrown in for fun. Was a treat to watch the various styles deployed by riders to tackle these hairpins..here are a few of them Aneesh sideways on the hairpin in characteristic style 
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Honey Narula being closely observed by spectators 
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Gaurav Pratap Singh displaying that he has a future in Gymnastics! 
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Veteran rider, HL Sharma from Shimla....takes it nice and smooth 
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Vivek Arora, a gutsy rider from Shimla, was slightly out of form in this round..even Doctor Rossi's jacket was not helping! 
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Piyush Chauhan, currently leading the Himachal Category Championship, aviates in his quest to beat Aneesh...but Aneesh was in his own league on this day. Piyush had to settle for 2nd in his category. 
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Yogesh Lakhani continues to blast his way through the competition, in the final lap he managed to cut his original time down by 2 seconds, recording 10:13. The timings for his 3 laps were 10:15, 10:15 and 10:13..now that's consistency! He truly deserved this win. 
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The results being finalised in Rally HQ 
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Trophy Time!!! Initially, Vikram Sharma, the CRO for the event, thought that his job entails walking off with all of them 
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We had to finally snatch them trophies off Vikram and give em to the chaps waiting expectantly for them... Group D Himachal Winners: 1st - Aneesh Awasthi (10:30), 2nd - Piyush Chauhan (10:49), 3rd - Sunil Chauhan (10:56) 
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Group D Open Winners: 1st - Sanjay Kumar Sharma (11:08), 2nd - Abhimanyu Sharma (11:08), 3rd - Pradeep Majotra (11:40) 
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Group C Open Winners: 1st - Yogesh Lakhani (10:13), 2nd - Rajan Sidhu (10:29), 3rd - Rupinder Singh (10:50) 
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Group Photo!! 
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