AARKC 2011-12 ROUND 10
Murphy’s Law is a royal pain. The UAE’s extended cool winter took a brief hiatus and instead of a blissfully sunny yet mild day we were frazzled, grilled and barbequed. Mind you, it was better than the horrendous lung crushing gale that we endured last time. By far the hottest race of the season so far – I think – meant that it was imperative that both the drivers and mechanics stayed hydrated, otherwise mistakes would be made. As far as grid sizes were concerned we were a little down than usual as some members opted to stay at home or race abroad. No matter, the racing wasn’t any less intense…and we were at Al Forsan Sports Resort in the capital.
MINI MAX – ZACHARY STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT
All 6 of the newly established Mini MAX class drivers were in attendance and all of them were hopeful of scoring well, as you would expect. Amazingly there was no brouhaha with the Final start as starter Parker was most impressed. After having led into turn 1, Zachary Robertson controlled the pack and saw to it that no one else stood a chance. On his way to his maiden victory he set fastest lap after fastest lap and cruised over the finish line with a cushy 7.222 winning margin. Behind him meanwhile was a great scrap. Tehmur Chohan – the point’s leader – was fighting it out with Alain Bauwmans and Taymour Kermanshahchi. Race long Tehmur and Alain were inseparable with Taymour running in tow. After 75% of the distance completed Taymours charge started to tail off and he dropped back by just under 2 seconds, this allowed Tehmur to forego the defensive and have a crack at Alain. It was a close run thing but Alain drove superbly to hold on to second, crossing the line only 6 hundredths of a second ahead of Tehmur. The result means that…hang on I lost the points…there we are. The result means that Tehmur leads the Mini MAX series on 270 points ahead of Alain on 252. Tantalisingly close.
Result: 1st Zachary Robertson 2nd Alain Bauwmans 3rd Tehmur Chohan
Fastest lap: 1:02.278 by Zachary Robertson
JUNIOR MAX – PASQUAL PULLS A BLINDER
Racing is always close in the Junior MAX class but on Friday we were missing two important faces, both Ameer Hassan and Tom Bale were racing elsewhere. This meant that the remaining drivers had to put on a show. Also missing from the final was Cedirc Dreyer who was on the sorry end of a pre-final pile up that caused terminal damage to his kart. So we were left with 6 of the young lads. The start was curious as – from the perspective of this writer – the first thing that appeared over the crest of the turn 2 hill was a flying kart. “This shouldn’t be so†I thought as it landed on Patrick Hannah. The incident put Patrick out of the race and allowed Pasqual – who was the only driver not to be hindered by the melee – to pull out a large gap of around 8 seconds. Cyrus Engineer – once back on the terra firma – and Abdullah Al Rawahi found themselves at the back behind both Guilio Peroni and Sebastian Seeling. Guilio was driving superbly and held of Cyrus for a short while. Cyrus got by in the end and Abdullah followed suit shortly afterwards. Abdullah quickly latched onto Cyrus’s rear bumper but there was little he could do. Cyrus was great under pressure and romped home to second with Abdullah a tenth behind. Guilio crossed the line fourth alone as Sebastian retired after 7 laps. Pasqual was the man of the day however as he took the chequered flag a mighty 11.456 seconds. Pasqual and Cyrus’s team principle Kieran Crawley could barely contain himself at the presentation. The result means that Abdullah still sits atop the point’s standings with 928 from Cyrus who still lies in second on 872. Pasqual’s win keeps him in third but does close the gap. Looking good for the young Omani…
Result: 1st Pasqual Pook 2nd Cyrus Engineer 3rd Abdullah Al Rawahi
Fastest lap: 59.359 by Pasqual Pook
SENIOR MAX – GUESS WHO?
The seniors were once again dominated by the Oman Karting Teams Sanad Al Rawahi. For as good as Sanad is on the track, he is a writer’s worst nightmare. Sanad started from pole position and then set lots of fast lap times and won by nearly 20 seconds. I really, really can’t think of what else to say. Thankfully there was some excellent action going on behind him so our attention will focus on that for now. Nikita Miliakov and Philippe Valenza had broken free of the pack early on and with Philippe leading the brace of karts the racing became very intense. Nikita was clearly quicker but Philippe was defending well. He took his Combined Kartvestor into all parts of the corners in a desperate attempt to maintain his position. Nikita kept the pressure on his rival and on lap 12 made the move stick. The respect between the two boys was highly impressive, and without a shred of contact the move was pulled off beautifully. Nikita then used what pace advantage he had to pull out a slight gap and crossed the line second some 2 seconds clear of Philippe. Raffaele De Lorenzi meanwhile had been reeling Philippe in bit by bit, there weren’t enough laps left to make a serious charge but he crossed the line fourth only a handful of tenths behind. Alex Coward was running very well in the early stages but looked to have over heated his tyres as his paced dropped off at the halfway point. He came home in fifth place just ahead of Alexandre Silanine who was down the order after a first lap spin at the penultimate corner. Youssef Elghandour finished in seventh place and Tom Walker didn’t take the start. Sanad now has 1038 points and the title is effectively his, Nikita Miliakov is second on 825 points.
Result: 1st Sanad Al Rawahi 2nd Nikita Miliakov 3rd Philippe Valenza
Fastest lap: 59.564 by Sanad Al Rawahi
MAX MASTER – BAUWMANS TRIUMPHS AS RIVALS CLASH
In the MAX Master class we have three drivers all vying for the title and the racing as you would expect is exceptionally close. Luc Bauwmans got things underway from pole position and immediately started snapping at the heels of the DD2’s. Luc drove fairly untroubled to yet another win, his fourth win of the season and the greatest tally of all the Masters. Kevin Day was by far having is best ever race day and kept himself out of trouble and in the money and crossed the line second some 20 seconds behind Luc. It was a strong drive and fully deserved. Third place went to Duncan Foster who was dealing with quite a severe issue. Duncan’s axle was moving laterally causing his brakes to bind and overheat. This of course meant that he couldn’t give it the beans and was doing well to stay in fifth. It was only the fact of the incident ahead of him that he inherited his “lucky†podium finish. Andrew Fuller was leading Walid Al Qassemi for the duration, the pair locked deep in battle. Sadly their terrific fight came to a head when exiting turn 2 in the dying stages. Walid was right up close to Andrew, too close, and his front right wheel made a minute amount of contact with Andrews rear left. Sadly that’s all it took as Andrew lost the back end in that horrible slow motion fashion. Walid ended up t-boning the other kart and got his wheel trapped in the back. Andrew was able to continue but Walid was out. It was a sorry way to end the day and Andrew was way down as a result. The incident promoted Jonathan Mowatt to fourth place, a result that mathematically makes him a title contender going into the final showdown…a new twist indeed. Bruno De Champris was classified fifth ahead of poor Andrew in sixth with Dan Player seventh. Walid and Ronald Zouein retired. The points table is looking close, with Andrew still leading despite not winning a final since round 3, he is on 869 from Luc in second place with 833. Walid’s chances have been dented but he is still third on 791 and Jonathan sits fourth overall on 740. Please guys; let’s have a clean season finale!
Result: 1st Luc Bauwmans 2nd Kevin Day 3rd Duncan Foster
Fastest lap: 59.888 by Luc Bauwmans
DD2- OLIVER A WINNER AT LAST!
Never say never in karting. Oliver George has been threatening the top step with a kebab knife for some time now, and after the disappointment of narrowly missing out in round 9, it all came together at Al Forsan. Oli had dominated the entire day and in the final converted his pole into an instant lead. At the outset he didn’t seem to pull away too much but by 25% distance he found some extra pace. He started to open a wider gap and led untroubled to score a highly deserved win by a margin of 7.6 seconds. The battle for second place was heating up as Hasher Al Maktoum spent the first half of the race holding off the advances of Arnaud Bouf. Arnaud is not one for rash moves so carefully bided his time behind the Sheikh and when he made his move, he made it stick. Arnaud was too far behind Oli to dent the lead but slid home a comfortable second some 4 seconds clear of third place Hasher. Maurits was having some technical problems all day and as such just couldn’t seem to get his kart hooked up. Of course he still put on a show but fourth was the best result he could muster. Mohammed Al Dhaheri was not having a great day and after having to slow early on could only finish in sixth, some 10 seconds behind Hussain Umid Ali. Maurits still sits at the helm of the leader board on 957 points from Oliver on 805. Hasher is third on 760 with Mohammed right behind him on 737.
For another sub-standard race report is written. Only 2 rounds to go now and as we all know they make up the double header on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th April. I hope none of you are suspicious… because that is a bit sad. Anyway, we look forward to seeing you all there. We will be throwing on a few extra bits and pieces to make the weekend more appealing to all the family and we will also be holding a little soiree at the Hilton Hotel on Friday night, more details to follow. I have been Martin Fullard, your smiley Clerk.
