DAMC Karting: Double win for Azzam in new Sodi RX250

(Dubai) Oct 15th – Round 2 of DAMC Karting Championship, combined with the AARKC UAE Rotax Max Challenge, boasted the largest fields in the various categories competing at the Dubai Kartdrome.

In the Max Seniors first round pace setter Edward Jones was absent competing in the Monaco Karting GP and thus all attention focused on the battle between Maurits Knopjes and Sanad Al Rawahi who is emerging as a force to be reckoned with at this early stage of the season. Knopjes won the first heat but Al Rawahi bounced back to take the Pre-Final.

The showdown in the Final was almost overshadowed by numerous incidents but Knopjes kept his head to take the win with Al Rawahi, in second place, glued to his bumper as they crossed the line a mere 0.261 separating the two. Ali Al Najjar did well to come back from a DNF in the Pre-Final to take third place on the day.

Knopjes said afterwards, “We had some carburetor problems which got worse as the day progressed. We changed it for the Final and it got better. Not quite a perfect day but good way to end it with a win in the Final.”

In the Max Masters class there were some new faces on the podium as the “usual suspects” suffered problems during the course of the four day. Winning a final for the first time was Luc Bauwmans ahead of second placed Perry Spruit and Gary Vincent taking third.

Mohammed Al Dhaheri starred in the DD2 Class with three wins on the day. Arnaud Bouf’s claiming pole was the only time Al Dhaheri did not top the results sheets in this class. Points leader Bouf encountered problems and his challenge did not materialize. Instead Ali Hamad gave a spirited display, making Al Dhaheri sweat for his trophy, on his way to a trio of second places. Sheikh Khalid Al Nehayan recovered well from a DNF in the Pre-Final to take third place in the Final.

The Max Juniors Class was turning into a three way battle between DAMC reigning champion Piers Pakenham-Walsh, Abdullah Al Rawahi and Ameer Hassan. There was very little to separate the trio throughout the day with Pakenham-Walsh doing the business in both the Heat and the Pre-Final. The final was always going to be a tense affair and early on there was contact with Pakenham-Walsh coming off the worse and dropping way down on the leaders. He proceeded to give chase but there simply were not enough laps and Omani based Al Rawahi took the winner’s trophy, with Ameer Hassan in second followed by third place Pakenham-Walsh. In the Minio Max class Kate Vincent was the only runner.

Tom Bale has been the top act in the Cadet Class for some years now and is proving to be a tough campaigner to dethrone, although in qualifying his rivals were given a glimmer of hope as he could only manage fourth best on the grid with Patrick Hannah securing pole position. Thereafter Bale again did the business with three emphatic wins. Hannah was second in the Final with Pascal Pook finishing third after a race long battle with Zak Munawer.

Round 3 of the DAMC Karting Championship takes place at Dubai Kartdrome on 29 October.

Rami-Azzam-winner-middle-on-the-podium-with-second-place-Mohammed-Al-Mehairi-right-third-place-Atef-Al-Barwani-left

Double win for Rami Azzam in first ever SWSRX250 Master Cup races in the UAE

The much awaited debut of the SWS RX250 Master Cup took place at the second round of the DAMC Karting Championship at Dubai Autodrome on Friday, 15 October 2010. More powerful, the state of the art RX250 takes competitive leisure karting to the next level in the UAE and as a result a host of top drivers signed up for the inaugural races.

Headlining the impressive field was Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum who showed his intent by taking pole position from second fastest Rami Azzam, Saeed Al Mehairi third and Atef Al Barwani fourth. Also lining up on the grid were the likes of Adnan Sarwar, Mohammed Ali Al Blooshi and Paul Healy.

In Race 1 it was Al Maktoum who set the pace at the front with Azzam tailing him before pouncing in the second half of the race to take an impressive win with Al Maktoum having to settle for second. Third place went to Al Mehairi who managed to fend off the attentions of Atef Al Barwani and Al Blooshi.

Race 2 was arguably the highlight of the day with Azzam, Al Maktoum, Al Mehairi and Al Barwani battling it out in close contention for most of the race. Azzam, hitting top form when it matters, kept a watching brief and again pounced late in the race to take the chequered flag for a second time. Behind him Al Mehairi managed to edge away to take second place while Al Barwani and Al Maktoum, in what must go down as the battle of the day, fought it out for the final podium spot. In the end Al Barwani took third.

Content with his double win Azzam said, “It was really good to win the first RX250 races. To take the double was special as this was a quality field in some very exciting karts. I will be back and hopefully win again.”

Next round of SWS RX250 Master Cup races takes place nex weekend (Friday, 22 October) as a curtain raiser to the Battery Kartdrome 24 Hours.

Mohammed al Mutawaa untouchable in the SWS Star Cup

As has become the norm, there was a big field for the SWS Star Cup sprint races, as up for grabs is a trip to the Sodi-SWS World Finals. Mohammed Al Mutawaa who immediately got down to business by taking pole position, the only in the Star Cup field to dip below the 72 seconds mark around the Kartdrome. In both races he simply powered into the distance winning Race 1 by almost 5 seconds and taking top spot in Race 2 by 8 seconds, the House of Portier driver was simply in a different class on the day.

Second and third in both races were Nathan Stevens and Sam Zian respectively. The battle for fourth place in the first race between Paul Chatenay, Azzan Ali, Luca Cima and Jiby Kuriakose was one of the highlights with Kuriakose taking eventually fourth followed by Chatenay, Ali and Cima. 

In the second race it was the same group battling for fourth with Phill Tromans joining the fray. This time Chatenay finished fourth ahead of Kuriakose, Tromans and Cima.

Next round of the SWS Star Cup takes place at Dubai Kartdrome on 29 October.