UAE Rotax MAX Challenge round 8 reflection

16 Feb, 2013

Ooh. Aah. Ouch. I cannot think of neither a metaphor nor simile that best describes just how sunburnt I am this morning. The application of After Sun last night was futile as no sooner had it touched my forearms that it had totally evaporated. For breakfast this morning I was able to scramble my eggs and fry my turkey bacon on my face and walking is about as pain free as a bear-attack. No matter, as your servant I shall persevere through the unspeakable discomfort and pain and begin this weekâ€™s epistle with a question: why do we do karting?

Karting is a form of motorsport that can be enjoyed by the common man. Some people choose to spend billions to reach the top, others not so much. Grown men get hooked as easily, if not more so, than children. It gives the young drivers a chance to learn vehicle control and sporting conduct. Grown-ups, with their bills and their bellies, can let what is left of their hair down and engage in raw competition and for a few days a year just have some fun. Teenagers who have taken a day-off from their archetypical courting, listening to ridiculous music and wearing funny baseball caps can flex their egos and show off a bit and have fun. And that is what karting is supposed to be at the end of the day; fun.

Sometimes the â€œfunâ€ element can be called into question, but why is that? When does karting stop being fun and become a chore? Is it because you are always â€œgettinâ€™ hit offâ€ or are forever involved in disputes with other competitors? Is it just an overreaction to a one-off incident? Is it due to a lack of understanding of the rules, or how certain rules are worded? For example, did you know that in the CIK rule book there is no such regulation called advantage by contact? Itâ€™s true. There is causing a collision, but that has many levels to it. Advantage by contact is something coined by rental circuits who donâ€™t wan their karts wrecked. When it comes to penalising someone for causing a collision, a lot of facts have to be established before a decision can be reached.

It is never black and white. The chances are if someone has run into the back of you, you will have no idea what the real circumstances were leading up to it. How can you? You donâ€™t have mirrors. The driver who tapped you into a spin may have been taking evasive action, imagine if you were penalised for pushing someone off when really, you were trying to avoid them? Yes, they could have been clumsy and caused an avoidable collision and in rare cases it could have been intentional, but it is no good speculating until the facts have been ascertained.

Throughout its entire history, motor racing has experienced accidents. People will hit people by mistake from time to time and in the heat of the moment it is perfectly natural to jump up and down like Yosemite Sam and turn as red as a fresh Jersey tomato. I used to be a really moody and vengeful driver and was actually banned from one particular circuit in the UK, so I understand the frustration. But try to remember that you have made mistakes in the past, too. Sometimes you may have gotten away with it, sometimes you may have felt harshly penalised, but just try to remember why you turn up in the first place; to have fun. Count yourself lucky that you are not the one who has to make the unpopular decisions.

Anyway, now that that seemingly never ending introduction has come to a conclusion we can turn our attention to the matter at hand. Where better place to start than the Mini MAX class? Alain Bauwmans had dominated Al Forsan during the first half of the day and had done well enough to start from second position in the final. It was, however, to be Tehmur Chohan who took the lead early on hoping to repeat his victory in the pre-final. The front row of Tehmur and Alain got away well and almost immediately set a pattern that would endure the race distance. Tehmur stormed into a commanding lead and crossed the line seven seconds clear of Alain. It was slightly processional up front, but the wheel-to-wheel entertainment was happening behind.

Not for the first time this year, Yahya Houston and Ivan Berets were at loggerheads in a battle that ran the course of the race. It was thrilling to watch as Yahya kept his nerve as Ivan tried his best to find a way through. Ivansâ€™ best chances were generally at the far end of the track, after that massive, banked right hand corner. Yahya had it covered and held on to cross the line third a slender 3 tenths of a second ahead of Ivan. Fighting for fifth place were Tara Eichenburger and Sachio Kekati. Tara was driving well but her pace seemed to drop off in the dying laps. Sachio closed in but it was too late to mount a challenge and they finished under a second apart.

Sem Knopjes once again took a victory in the Micro MAX class by simply driving the fastest. It is quite hard to elaborate on that without waffling. During the race, his nearest challenger was title-rival Yusuf Moola and despite crossing the finish line second was sadly disqualified after post race scrutineering deemed his kart illegal. A shame, but we move on. The expulsion of Yusuf from the running order promoted Ziggy Kermanshahchi to second place and Theo Kekati to third. Theo was very brave after his early morning incident and a third place trophy after having missed both the heat and pre-final certainly made it all seem worth it. Ziyad Houston was elevated to fourth place but could have taken the final podium position had he not slowed as much as he did when he was shown the blue flags. Another good drive.

This year, I donâ€™t think I have had much to say to the Junior MAX class. There was a blip on the graph at round five, but otherwise they can be pretty much left alone to get on with it. And true enough as once again the Junior final was trouble free. Tom Bale had to start at the back as mechanical-fairies had been up to no good in the pre-final, robbing him of a certain win. His starting position was good news for Pasqual Pook and Taymour Kermanshahchi. Both drivers started well but by turn three on lap one Tom was already up to third place. Pasqual led Taymour and Tom and soon enough a gap opened up. Tom got by Taymour on the opening complex of corners before diving down the inside of Pasqual at that hairpin in the middle. The game was not over as Tom was unable to pull out a gap. Instead, Pasqual went on the offensive, with Taymour following suit. It was a thrilling fight to the line as Tom held on to win.

But that was not the only action occurring. Once Guilio Peroni had found a way by Stephanie Le Vesconte he set off on a lonely drive to fourth place. Stephanie then found herself dealing with an on-form Sebastian Seeling. The last two race reports have commented on Sebastians ever-improving performances and at Al Forsan he continued his upward trend. He attacked all race but had to settle for sixth. His performance is not to diminish that of Stephaniesâ€™, however, as she was forced onto the defensive and it takes a strong head to cope with that kind of pressure over a race distance. Sheikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa and Faisal Al Zubair completed the running order.

Now we come to my favourite part of the communiquÃ©; 125 MAX. It is hard enough trying to recall the 15 lap adventures of each individual kart, but the task is made all the harder when you cannot see most of the track. Still, that has not stopped me before so letâ€™s see how we go. The first notable activity was at the hairpin on lap one when through a melee of karts, title contender Piers Pakenham-Walsh was tapped into a spin and subsequently eliminated from the race. Philippe Valenza was leading from Abdullah Al Rawahi, Ameer Hassan and Mohammed Al Mutawaa up front. Duncan Foster, Kevin Day, Raed Hassan and Walid Al Qassemi were just behind, the old boys showing that they are a match for anyone.

Anyway, one lap Abdullah came round leading ahead of Philippe and that is how it stayed until the end, with the former crossing the line 2.6 seconds clear. Ameer, who as it turns out was running on the tyre pressures, remained in third place ahead of Mohammed. Sadly, Mohammed was found to be underweight after the race and was expunged from the results.

Before Mohammedâ€™s post race disqualification, the top four Masters were occupying fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth places and what fun it was to watch. Kevin Day proved that he was the bravest of the overtakers as he made up most of his positions by making late dives up the inside of the penultimate corner. After one such instance, Kevin passed Raed but Raed spun himself out on the exit of the last corner, this promoted Duncan to sixth (fifth) overall and second in class. Walid was right behind but just couldnâ€™t find a way by Duncan.

Anas Al Halabi put in his best performance of the year with a strong drive to seventh place after holding onto the back of Walid. Tom Walker, who was classified eighth, led a train of karts home across the line, the order of which you will soon be able to see on the results page, once Gina has finished typing them out. If there was any other noteworthy action that I have missed then please feel free to write your own race report.

The last race of the day was the DD2 final and, frankly, things did not start well. The first start attempt was rubbish and promptly my hand spiralled around to signal another stab. Some drivers thought we were off and broke formation which started a chain of events that saw second placed Jonathan Mowatt cross the start line laterally and into the path of the helpless Tony Hogg. Jonathan was out immediately but Tony opted to continue with bent track rods. At the second start things were slightly improved and Oli George stamped his authority on the race by pulling out an immediate lead on wily Frenchman, Arnaud Bouf, and the newly bearded Sanad Al Rawahi. Oli looked to have things under control but things were to soon take a turn. With every passing lap the sound emanating from his gearbox increased in noise until Denisâ€™ moustache started to twitch. The crunching gears were not slowing Oli down too much, but enough to allow Arnaud to close right up. The last laps were nail biting as Arnaud latched right up onto the ailing gearbox of Olisâ€™ kart but he could not get by and Oli extends his lead in the DD2 championship yet again.

Sanad finished in a lonely third place and Hussain Umid Ali finished a hard earned fourth place. The Phantom of the Start-grid, Patrick Jarjour, was classified in fifth place even after receiving a 10-second penalty and Edward Stanley was seventh. Edward received a trophy for finishing third in the Masters behind Beard-face and Arnaud. Tony Hogg recovered brilliantly to finish seventh overall beating Abdul Samad and Paul Morris.

Finally we come to the Bambino class. They were all experiencing Al Forsan for the first time and it all looked pretty exciting out there. Ethan Walsh was the fastest of them all after setting a best lap time of 1:20.523 ahead of Jamie Day, who was three tenths slower. Georgie Zouein was having a spot of bother with his engine which kept cutting out at low revs, but still he managed to post the third fastest time with a 1:21.156. Gaia Eichenberger set a best time of 1:22.228 and Saquir Al Qassemi set a 1:23.531. Kris Knopjesâ€™ best lap time was a 1:27.908 and Hamish Foster set a best of 1:28.103. Unless any parents are planning on posting any incriminating videos on YouTube, then none of the drivers dropped any points and were all very, very well behaved. I still stand by idea that the Bambinos should be hired out as instructors to the older drivers.

You may recall that at the end of the last report I posted 11 questions for you to answer. The purpose behind it was to force people into the rule book and make them look at things from the other side of the room. Of all the competitors, only Anas Al Halabi answered them and as such has been gifted two free test days and an Al Ain Raceway baseball cap, spared no expense. When it comes to karting quizzes and so on, it seems that Andrew Fuller is the man who does it best. So we will be collaborating in the coming days to reach out to you and, somehow, get your nose into the sporting regulations. Did you know that if you turn to page five in the sporting regulations you can win one million Dirhams?* Have a look and see.

I always like to thank the mechanics, mums, dads and team members who make the day what it is. And, if I am especially delirious with sun-stroke, then I occasionally thank the drivers, too. Many thanks to Hossam and the team at Al Forsan for hosting the eighth round of the series, thank you to Deputy Clerk of the Course Andrew Fuller and to our other volunteers. Denis says thank you to Matthew Norman for the spike in glove sales and thank you to the sun for turning me into David Dickinson.

See you in Dubai in a fortnight.

*A cunning ruse.

Martin Fullard

Because there was no podium photo, here is what I might have looked like at the presentation