Manali, October 3: The 10th Maruti Suzuki Raid de Himalaya 2008 was flagged off by the Hon Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh amidst a lively gathering of motorsport enthusiasts from all over the country. An early start on the 2nd October 2008 to the Parc Ferme at Gumma turned out to be a not so easy affair for both Raju Verma and Khushwant Randhawa. Both failed to make the first step of the Raid this year and were out before the event had even started. Similarly bikers Ganesh Pakhe and friend also went down the wrong road getting hopelessly lost in the first hour itself. They too handed in their time cards. The first competitive stage between Kiari and Umladwar proved challenging. Though exceedingly short by Raid standards the stage caught several drivers on the wrong foot. Col Rajesh Vaid from Team Army Adventure skidded off wet grass on a tight left hander and down the side of a small drop. Fortunate to be caught by a tree Col Vaid was able to walk out unharmed. Sunny Sidhu of Team Godwin blasted through the stage but fell victim to head gasket failure when his knee accidentally hit a dash mounted switch and disconnected an additional cooling fan. Dismay writ large over his face he was not willing to quit ....but alas the Raid is not anything if cruel! Sandeep Sharma of Team Thunderbolt fared little better when his car came to a grinding halt after oil sump damage caused a turbo to seize up and killed his hopes for 2008! Rana drove smoothly to a first place on Day 1 itself. The charge of the bike brigade is on. Ashish Moudghil was beaten by a minute and the man that relegated him to second spot none other than Bhaskar Ramani of Red Rooster Racing Bangalore. Team Ceat's Klaudia Honeder though looking strong on stage 1 eventually fell into 11th place. Karanbir Bedi of Team Overdrive Honda was in a relatively modest 10th spot whereas team mate Pankaj Trivedi in 24th place was hardly likely to attract another sponsor.
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