Trio enjoy double victory

Manama : Three of the top stars in national karting were victorious last Friday in the final round of the 2015/2016 Bahrain Karting Sprint Championship (BKSC), held at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.

Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa in the Bahrain Rotax Mojo Max Challenge (BRMMC), Talal Beshara in the BRMMC’s Junior Max class and Rashid Almuammari in the Bahrain SWS Sprint Championship (SWS) each claimed impressive doubles in their respective race categories under the BKSC. Both the BRMMC and the SWS make up the BKSC. 

The BRMMC is an exclusive championship for Rotax kart owners with the competitors battling it out in different classes depending on their age and skill levels; while the SWS is an open arrive-and-drive series where participants compete in identical BIKC-supplied Sodikarts.

Shaikh Isa qualified for pole in the Max category for race one with a blistering lap of 57.781 seconds around BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) track and Beshara followed suit in his Junior Max class (59.497 seconds) taking the leading grid spot.

Shaikh Isa (10 minutes 38.576 seconds) powered to a fine race one victory in the 11-lap sprint ahead of runner-up Shaikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Khalifa (+2.975), who was (+8.947) in front of Hussain Hasan who completed the podium placers.

Beshara (10:59.250) clinched first place amongst the Junior Max competitors with Alexander Bekkers in second place.

In BRMMC race two, Shaikh Isa secured a fine double after a tightly contested event ahead of Shaikh Mohammed (+0.116) with Hasan (+10.472) a distant third to complete the podium.

Beshara (10:58.629) won the Juniors Max race followed by Bekkers in second and Zaid Audih in third.

Meanwhile, Almuammari enjoyed a pair of hotly contested SWS races, each of which featured a packed field of 17 competitors.

Tarryn Pods (1:13.375) had a brilliant start to the SWS action during qualifying and in race one, Almuammari managed to steal the advantage and then stave off a pair of hard-charging challenges by Khalid Alwazzan and Mohammed Aldemestani.

Almuammari (13:31.208) took the chequered flag, followed in second by Alwazzan (+0.090) while Aldemestani (+1.846) completed the podium.

In race two, Almuammari (13:24.291) had less pressure for a second successive, with Ahmed Ebrahim (+4.954) the runner-up and Alwazzan (+9.137) claiming the final podium position in third.

Following the completion of the BKSC’s season finale, Shaikh Isa was among a trio of drivers who were crowned champions of their respective categories.

Shaikh Isa clinched the season’s title in the BRMMC’s Max category after finishing ahead on points of Shaikh Mohammed and Hassan.

Audih won the Junior Max crown ahead of Beshara and Bekkers.