Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge karting champions crowned

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) crowned the newest champions of the Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge (BRMC) following the completion of the seventh and final round of its 2021/2022 season, held last weekend at the world-class Sakhir karting track. There was plenty of action once again in the Kingdom’s leading grassroots motorsport series, which headlined this year’s Bahrain Karting Sprint Championship.

The season’s titles were clinched by Yousif Alghaith in the Micro MAX class, Khaled Al Najjar in the Mini MAX category, Mohammad Wally in the Junior MAX, Najashi Rashdan in the Senior MAX and Sulaiman Alkandari in the DD2 MAX category. All of the racing in the BRMC this campaign took place along BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre CIK-FIA circuit. The BRMC featured karters of all ages and nationalities battling it out in their very own Rotax karts in various competition categories.

From the roster of 2021/2022 champions, Wally ended the season with a win in his class. He kicked things off this weekend taking second on the timesheet in qualifying, after going a mere 0.039 seconds slower than pole-sitter Luca Kane Houghton. But in the pre-final, Wally was able to claim the victory by 0.594s ahead of Houghton.

The pair were then once again engaged in a tight battle in the final, exchanging positions on the last three laps before Wally took the chequered flag in a total race time of 13 minutes 58.787 seconds over 15 laps. Houghton, who originally crossed the finish line in second, was given a 20 second penalty due to bump with advantage plus a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits multiple times, which dropped him to 10th on the final classification.

Wian Boshoff inherited the runner-up spot ahead of Gracie Rose Grantham, who could have taken that place but was also given a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. She had to settle for the final podium spot. Vedant Menon came fourth, Abdulqader Qasem fifth, Mohammed Alhasan sixth, Sari Alzubi seventh and Musaad Albassam eighth.

Meanwhile, in the Micro MAX class, Shaikh Ahmed swept through the sessions in the season-ending round, taking first place in both qualifying and the pre-final and then winning the nine-lap final in 9:25.924. He finished 6.464s ahead of Alghaith, while Mohammed Waleed came third 20.408s back. In the Mini MAX, Goddard was the lone competitor in his category.

He finished his final in 9:00.730, also over nine laps. The Senior MAX class saw Fahad Alkhaled take the win in the final. Earlier, he finished a narrow third in qualifying behind Lewis Smith and Rashdan, with less than nine-hundredths-of-asecond separating the trio.

In the pre-final, it was Ahmed Musalam who claimed the win by a narrow 0.050s gap ahead of Smith with Alkhaled in fourth, but in the final, Alkhaled was able to power to the front on lap four and hold on from there until the finish. Al khaled  triumphed i n 13:33.577 over 15 laps, while Smith was second 5.173s behind.

Shaikha Haya bint Duaij bin Salman Al Khalifa came third 6.527s adrift. Fourth through eighth, respectively, were Abdulrahman Waleed, Rashdan, Faisal Jamsheer, Abdulla Jaweed and Ahmed Alsaleh. In the DD2 MAX category, Fahad Almuqla staved off some stiff competition to claim the victory.

Jack Smith had kicked things off by topping the qualifying timesheet ahead of Raed Raffii and Alkandari, and before being classified in the same order in the pre-final after Almuqla was disqualified. But Almuqla made up for his non-classification in the 15-lap final, winning in 13:30.990 after gaining the lead on lap two and holding on until the chequered flag. Alkandari was the runner-up 8.300s behind, while Raffii finished third 12.877s back. Smith, Giovanni Maza and Mohammed Ameen were fourth through sixth.

At the season’s end, Alghaith claimed the Micro MAX championship after finishing with 213 points, while Shaikh Ahmed was second on 195 points and Waleed third on 88. Alnajjar won the Mini MAX title with 140 points, well ahead of Goddard who had 64 and Shaikh Rashid bin Salman Al Khalifa on 29 points from just a single round’s participation.

The Junior MAX was one of the most tightly contested categories, and Wally clinched the crown with 179 points—just 14 points ahead of Houghton and 19 from Grantham. It was also a tight race for the Senior MAX title, with Rashdan winning on 178 points. Smith was second 13 points behind and Alkhaled third on 126 points.

Alkandari clinched the DD2 MAX championship with 92 points, while Almuqla came second on 80. Raffii took third with 25 points from a single round’s appearance. Meanwhile, amongst the entrants, Praga Middle East won the title in four of the five categories, including in the Micro MAX, Mini MAX, Junior MAX and DD2 MAX. The Senior MAX Entrants Championship was claimed by Forza Bahrain Racing.