UAE RMC Round 1 RACE REPORT

The silence of the close season was obliterated on Friday when no less than 55 Rotax type engines were revved up and raced in anger for the 2012/13 season curtain raiser.  The venue for round 1 was, in case you weren’t there, Dubai Kartdrome.  The circuit had undergone some small changes over the summer with the most notable being the re-profiling of the second corner.  The modified right-hander was met with re-positioned fences and in all the improvements were welcomed. 

On the grid there were changes everywhere.  The changes to the appearance of various categories have already been well documented but it was the addition and movement of the faces that got people talking.  With plenty of newbies in the paddock and with several drivers having swapped classes there was an air of uncertainty over the paddock.  Furthermore there were plenty of shiny new karts on parade.  Along with the established Intrepids and Birels there were also CRG’s. EnergyKarts and Formula K’s.  It certainly made for some pretty pictures… Anyone interested in the racing?  Ah go on then…

Mini MAX & Micro MAX

There was much speculation over the summer about the Mini MAX class, not about who would be racing, that was obvious, but about who would win.  All the chatter stopped as it soon emerged that Zachary Robertson, Tehmur Chohan, Alain Bauwmans and Ivan Berets aren’t separated by much more than a hair.  In the final, Zachary led into turn 1 from pole with Tehmur right on his tail.  Alain and Ivan slotted in third and 4^th respectively.  Zachary and Tehmur broke away from the others by a smidge and soon enough were tussling for the lead.  Things started to get heated and after Tehmur briefly took the lead the pair tangled in the final chicane.  No great harm was done as they both continued in their respective positions. Disaster struck 2 laps later when, on the exit of the bridge, Tehmur made a small misjudgement that saw both he and Zachary fall off the track.  They quickly picked themselves up and carried on, but by that point Alain had already whizzed through into the lead with Ivan promoted to second.  Alain crossed the line the winner with an 8 second cushion back to Ivan.  Zachary came home in third 14 seconds back just ahead of Tehmur.  Bumps and scrapes are always going to be inevitable but at least the young drivers acted like men and conducted themselves properly after the incident.  Otherwise it was a good day, apart from the starts…

The Micro MAX class ran its debut race behind all the Mini action and it was Sem Knopjes, son of some guy who has won a lot of Championships, who stole the headlines.  Sem was only 2 seconds slower than the slowest Mini MAX drivers which with all things considered is a superb achievement.  He kept his eyes on the job and amazingly finished on the same lap as the Mini’s too.  He was followed home by Sachio Kekati, who after suffering a mechanical problem on the grid did his best to get some laps in.  Yusuf Moola sadly wasn’t classified as a finisher after he broke down on lap 4.

Mini MAX

Result: 1^st Alain Bauwmans       2^nd Ivan Berets             3^rd Zachary Robertson

Fastest lap:  1:01.838 Zachary Robertson

Micro MAX

Result: 1^st Sem Knopjes            2^nd Sachio Kekati         3^rd Yusuf Moola

Fastest lap:  1:05.650 Sem Knopjes

125 Junior MAX

It wouldn’t matter if there was only 1 junior driving around or 1000 of them, there would always be something to talk about.  With only 6 drivers on the grid it was fairly obvious how the day was going to pan out.  In the final Tom Bale lined up on the front row alongside a very tall Pasqual Pook.  At the off it was indeed the front row occupants that led into the first corner.  But sadly Pasqual dropped his right wheels outside of the tram lines before the lights went out which meant that he would be slapped with a 3 second penalty at the end of the race.  Tom maintained his lead but Pasqual was all over his bumper desperately trying to find a way through.  Lap after lap he was sniffing around, and aside from leading briefly on 2 occasions couldn’t quite make it stick.  For the first half of the race the lead brace had indeed pulled out a 4 second lead over third placed Guilio Peroni, a gap that would counter Pasqual’s penalty.  But Guilio started to reel the front men in towards the end.  Pasqual was the faster kart in the dying laps but just couldn’t quite trump Tom’s European experience.  When they passed the chequered flag Pasqual was only 0.186 seconds behind a victorious Tom.  Guilio however had closed the gap to 1.2 seconds and as a result took second place, demoting Pasqual to third.  Taymour Kermanshahchi cannot score points until round 5 in 2013 on account of his age, but that didn’t stop him on Friday as he got to grips with his new equipment.  He did a sterling job and beat Sebastian Seeling to fourth place, but only just.  Sebastian drove a superb race and found himself much closer to the leading pack than last year.  Given some more time expect to see him on the podium.  Antoine Pelegry was the debutant who kept himself out of trouble and drove well to finish the final and open his season points account without drama. 

Result: 1^st Tom Bale      2^nd Guilio Peroni           3^rd Pasqual Pook*

Fastest lap:  1:00.042 Pasqual Pook

*3 second penalty for start infringement

125 MAX

This year there will be a lot of debate about what is more difficult; racing in a 125 MAX race or writing about a 125 MAX race.  In the past this writer has liked to make mention of all drivers who take part, but with 1,2,3….27 of you out there this report could go on for days.  So let’s see how we go.  Ed Brand broke down in the Pre Final and started near the back when he would have been on pole.  This allowed Ameer Hassan – who started on pole instead – to lead from start to finish in what turned out to be a crushing win.  Thankfully, and most remarkably, there were no multi-kart pile ups at the start. Ed Brand was on a charge up through the order and making up lots of positions.  Early on, Alexandre Silanine was fighting for second with Piers Pakenham-Walsh and Kevin Day.  There was a long train of karts in the middle of the pack and to document all the action was nigh on impossible, but there was certainly some overtaking between certain drivers.  Ed continued his charge and was up to fourth behind Piers at ¾ distance.  Driver 217 fought back with all he had but Ed took the place and set about trying to catch Alexandre in the closing laps.  There were a few mechanical defects that drew attention; most notably Abdullah Al Rawahi who suffered a liberal chain and Andrew Fuller, whose kart ran out of steam. 

So all in all it was an absolutely cracking race.  It was amazing that there wasn’t an endless stream of disaster and everyone sincerely hopes that this trend will endure all season long.  Despite the Masters now being classed as 125 MAX like everyone else it was Kevin Day who was awarded the Masters win in the sub-series.  Ed Brand, a highly accomplished European racer was flavour of the day but after the glitch in the pre final he had to line his Formula K up on the grid in 22^nd place.  He did tremendously well to finish third, but Ameer Hassan seized the opportunity with a crushing win.  I may need these guys to write an account of their own race from now on to help me out.

Result: 1^st Ameer Hassan*        2^nd Alexandre Silanine   3^rd Ed Brand*

Fastest lap: 58.658 Ed Brand

*Doesn’t score championship points

Master Result: 1^st Kevin Day    2^nd Raed Hassan           3^rd Walid Al Qassemi

DD2

Just like the MAX and Masters being fused together, the DD2’s are conjoined to the DD2 Masters.  Together, they race as one big super class but the Master’s score separate points additionally for their own sub-series.  Xen De Rowe, another highly rated European racer, lit up the Kartdrome with one of the most dominant displays of the day.  He romped away from pole, punched in fastest lap after fastest lap and crossed the line 7 seconds clear of the pack.  It was the battle behind him however that drew the attention of the surveying masses.  In the opening stages, Maurits Knopjes ran deep into the chicane after the bridge allowing Sanad Al Rawahi to slot through into second place.  Oliver George and Arnaud Bouf were both lined up right behind them in 4^th and 5^th respectively.  The action may sound processional when reading about it in Ariel font but it was really nail-biting stuff.  Sanad was holding off a hard-charging Maurits who in turn was trying to keep Oliver at bay who himself had Arnaud on his tail.  Just one wheel out of place could have cost a ton of time.  The positions wouldn’t change and it was Sanad who crossed the line second, with Maurits, Oliver and Arnaud 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th respectively.  Further down the road in a lonely 6^th was Mohammed Al Dhaheri who, from the back was on a damage limitation exercise.  Hussain Umid Ali was at the helm of a 4 kart train holding off Jonathan Mowatt, Nicolas Canal and beard owner; Patrick Jarjour.  Paul Morris, Anthony Hogg and Abdul Samad finished 11^th, 12^th and 13^th, all three men contesting their debut race.  If the close proximity of Friday’s racing is anything to go by, DD2 is going to be a sensational year…

Result: 1^st Xen De Rowe*         2^nd Sanad Al Rawahi    3^rd Maurits Knopjes

Fastest lap:  56.763 Xen De Rowe

*Doesn’t score championship points

Master result: 1st Maurits Knopjes         2nd Arnaud Bouf         3rd Jonathan Mowatt

And so 1 round down, 12 to go.  Without trying to gush too much, Al Ain Raceway would like to pay homage to all the drivers who took part in Dubai.  It was the best attended round in the series’ 6 year history and there was only 1 small penalty handed out for a minor infringement.  That is one almighty achievement so; let’s see if we can have a performance roll over at Al Ain Raceway on 19^th October for round 2.

See you all there, don’t forget your entries and your good mood hats!    

Martin Fullard

Pictures courtesy of Paul Velasco

The winning drivers and David Bright