20 January 2012
Under the Cirrus and Altostratus unduatus cloud formation of Dubai (thanks Wikipedia) the kart drivers of the United Arab Emirates descended to the Kartdrome for the 5th round of the Al Ain Raceway Kart club Rotax MAX Challenge, and also the first race of 2012. Obviously Father Christmas had been a very busy soul as there were several drivers all sporting new karts and equipment. Aside from a spot of standard issue chest beating at one end of the Pit lane, it was a relatively good day, bar of course a couple of unfortunate mishaps for 1-2 drivers... more later. Anyway, for those with any mathematical inclinations there were 48 drivers present, with plenty of Juniors, Seniors and Masters. DD2 was a touch undersubscribed this time out, and what we understand from the karting mole is that the absentees will be back next time so fear not. So which class would you like to read about first? Shall we shake things up and start with DD2's? No ok. Looks like the Junior's demand to go first again...
Throughout the entire day the top half-dozen in the Junior MAX class were inseparable, one long train running in formation. Needless to say it required a firm eye but hopes were high that the sportsmanship shown last time at Al Forsan would carry over. And sure enough it did, sort of. For the final, Abdullah Al Rawahi started in pole position alongside Tom Bale. Ameer Hassan and Patrick Hannah lined up on the second row with Cyrus Engineer and Cedric Dreyer 5th and 6th respectively. Guilio Peroni and Sebastian Seeling were 7th and 8th and Pasqual Pook started from the back after having had to retire a damaged kart in pre-final. At the flag Tom got the early jump - one that would prove costly later - but Abdullah just about managed to hold on to the lead into turn 1, but in uncharacteristic fashion lost the back-end and spun, demoting him to last place. Cyrus jumped on the opportunity to take the lead and after some brief defending started to pull out a small gap, at a rate of about 0.5 seconds a lap. Pasqual Pook was the man on the mission and after only a few laps found himself up in third - after performing the same overtaking maneuver at turn 15 several times, he must like that corner. Pasqual latched onto Tom's rear bumper chasing him hard, and on more than one occasion overtook and demoted the former Cadet champion only to be displaced soon after. Ameer Hassan was putting his new kart through its paces but effectively was only racing himself until the end when Abdullah finally caught up with him. There wasn't enough laps left so Abdullah crossed the line 5th place behind Ameer Hassan. Patrick Hannah had a fairly uneventful race that saw him finish in sixth place and Cedric Dreyer and Guilio Peroni were four seconds apart at the finish. Sebastian Seeling retired on lap 7. Cyrus Engineer went on to win by a margin of 6 seconds and that has comfortably moved him 26 points closer to Abdullah in the Championship. Sadly for him, Tom Bale was handed a 10 second penalty after the race for jumping the start which demoted him to sixth overall. The decision meant that Pasqual, Ameer, Abdullah and Patrick all moved up one place.
Result: |
1st Cyrus Engineer | 2nd Pasqual Pook | 3rd Ameer Hassan |
Fastest lap: |
58.547 by Ameer Hassan | ||
So far this year Sanad Al Rawahi has been running away with everything. Are things about to become a whole lot more difficult? I think the answer across the board is "yes". Sanad lined up on Pole alongside Raffaele De Lorenzi - his best eve starting position. Piers Pakenham-Walsh lined up third - by virtue of the fact that he had to race from dead last in the pre-final - alongside debutant Alexandre Silanine. At the off Piers tucked in behind Sanad immediately pushing Raffaele down to third. The lead brace soon started to pull out a gap, with Piers acting as Sanad's shadow the whole time. There were times when Piers lined himself up for an attack but it seemed more of a test. The two charges remained in situ to the finish line and Sanad punched the air in victory as he took the flag. He won a close fought race but now needs to be alert as Piers has made his intentions quite clear... Keep your eyes on this one! Raffaele has really upped his game this year and achieved yet another podium finish which has seen him close up on Nikita Miliakov by 26 points. He drove a solitary race but that was all that was needed, he came home nearly 5 seconds behind Piers and Sanad. Alexandre Silanine has finally moved into Rotax and his debut couldn't have gone much better. By staying out of trouble and came home a highly commendable fourth place some 8 seconds down on the leaders. 5th in class was Ali Al Najjar, who spent most the race battling with the Masters, and Chris Coles - after escaping big pile up - was classified 6th. Nikita Miliakov did not have a great day by his own admission. After being involved in a pile up that took 3 karts out of the race he limped to the finish line in 7th in class. Ammar Rayess was one of the unfortunate souls who tried to take evasive action in said pile up but sadly couldn't do enough. His kart looked in a none to healthy state but thankfully at least he wasn't hurt. Alex Coward was classified as 9th after retirement on lap 1.
Result: |
1st Sanad Al Rawahi | 2nd Piers Pakenham-Walsh | 3rd Raffaele De Lornezi |
Fastest lap: |
58.193 by Sanad Al Rawahi | ||
The MAX Master category has been brilliant so far this year, with all manner of twists and turns its been anybodies game. Walid Al Qassemi lined up first in class from Luc Bauwmans. Futher back down the mixed grid was Raed Hassan and Kevin Day with Championship leader Andrew Fuller starting near the back after a less than successful pre-final. Walid mounted an early charge from the start and was battling with the Seniors when he was clipped from behind at the entry to turn 11 putting him laterally across the track. In the resulting melee Luc Bauwmans lost his chain after being collected, and along with Walid his race was over. It was a shame to lose 2 of the 3 title contenders in such a way. Remarkably this promoted Raed Hassan to first in class. Andrew Fuller meanwhile was making tremendous progress from the back of the grid and at the death was within 4 seconds of Raed. Once having been passed by Andrew, Perry Spruit found another gear and attempted to fight back. Andrew on the defensive meant it wasn't easy but Perry gave him a good run and finished alongside with a time gap of a touch over 7 tenths of a second. Jonathan Mowatt was classified as 4th in class ahead of Bruno De Champris in 5th. Paul Walsh, after having been taken out in the pre-final did his best to make up ground but 6th place was the best he could do, 13 seconds clear of Ronald Zouein in 7th. Of the non-finishers, Kevin Day was classified 8th and Luc Bauwmans 9th. But on the day the cards were dealt in favour of Raed Hassan and few people will begrudge him his first ever win.
Result: |
1st Raed Hassan | 2nd Andrew Fuller | 3rd Perry Spruit |
Fastest lap: |
58.956 by Walid Al Qassemi | ||
The DD2 class was missing some familiar faces, with both Mohammed Al Dhaheri and Sheikh Khalid Al Nahyan unable to attend. This left 6 karts on the grid. For the final, Maurits Knopjes started on pole position alongside Arnaud Bouf in second. Oliver George and Hasher Al Maktoum started 3rd and 4th, and Hussein Umid Ali and Patrick Jarjour 5th and 6th. Maurits maintained his lead from Arnaud and Oliver into the first complex of turns. Oliver was desperate to claw back some points in series and wasted no time in getting past Arnaud. Oliver soon attached himself to the bumper of Maurits and then the battle really did begin. Although Oliver didn't actually take the lead at any point, he put Maurits under as much pressure as he could. Maurits - who is ranked in the top 10 in the world in this class - knows his stuff and refused to be phased by the efforts of his attacker. They kept the racing icy white clean to the end as Maurits took maximum points 3 tenths of a second ahead Oliver, who is yet again on the podium. Arnaud was driving quite a lonely race in third position, not really under threat from behind. He remained within 3 seconds of the leading guys which confirmed his good pace, but a quiet final that saw him move up a place in the points standings. Hasher Al Maktoum has had better days, his kart seemed off the pace but he was still able to collect another valuable points haul by finishing fourth. Patrick and Hussein were as inseparable as the leaders as they fought for honours in 5th and 6th, but it was Patrick that took the spoils in their private battle.
Result: |
1st Maurits Knopjes | 2nd Oliver George | 3rd Arnaud Bouf |
Fastest lap: |
56.937 by Oliver George | ||
So as we approach the halfway point of the season the Championship picture is starting to develop. If Maurits can keep up his form then he is looking good. Sanad has an almighty lead but with the arrival of Piers he now has something to worry about so will have to be clever. Andrew Fuller and his famous lucky fairies have kept him atop the standings so far and will need some smoother races than this one if he is to comfortably take the title again. And as for the Juniors? Well as we've seen this year, its remarkably close between the top 6 and every single point counts...
Al Ain Raceway would like to thank their good friends; the Dubai Kartdrome for hosting the 5th round of the series. Our thanks are extended to the officials at the Kartdrome staff, and of course thanks once again to all the drivers and teams who continue their support of this growing series. From everyone at Al Ain Raceway we wish you a kart-tastic (if somewhat cheesy) 2012.
Marty Fullard
The next round is on....the..... February..................................3rd. Get your forms in this week!
