Sprinting ahead!

Hussain Hassan and Nasser Al Alawi were the big winners in the latest edition of the Bahrain Karting Sprint Championship (BKSC), held last weekend at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.

Hassan won round three of the 2016/2017 Bahrain Rotax Mojo Max Challenge (BRMMC) 0000while Al Alawi triumphed in round five of the 2016/2017 Bahrain SWS Sprint Championship (SSWS).

Racing was held along BIKC’s 1.414km Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) Track. In the BRMMC, which is a category exclusively for Rotax kart owners, Hassan was in fine form from the early going.

He topped the timesheet in qualifying before winning the Pre-Final to secure pole for the deciding sprint. Hassan quickly started from where he left off and maintained his lead throughout the 15-lap Final.

He took the chequered flag after a total winning time of 14 minutes 25.997 seconds. Hassan finished 2.725 seconds ahead of runner-up Abdulla Al Thawadi, while Mohammed Mattar completed the podium placers in third a narrow 2.815s behind the winner. All three top finishers were a part of the Max class, which also featured Ali Baslar and Khalied Alsaei who were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Meanwhile, winning their race categories were Luca Santiago and Anthony Genocchio. Luca claimed first place in the Junior Max class ahead of Sulaiman Alkanderi, Anas Lecaillon and Alexander Bekkers. Genocchio, on the other hand, won the Max Masters as the category’s lone competitor.

In the SSWS, Al Alawi bested a field of 19 other karters to win their 15-lap Final in 18:02.442. Al Alawi couldn’t have been engaged in a tighter battle at the chequered flag, as only 0.080 separated Al Alawi from runner-up Ahmed Ebrahim. Abdulla Buhindi was another karter who came close to stealing away the victory, but he had to settle for third although was only 0.218s off of the victor’s pace.

Rashid Khalifa and Mohammed Ameen completed the top five and both were within a half-second from first. Khalifa finished 0.517s after Al Alawi while Ameen was 0.524s back. Rounding out the top eight in the final classification were Mohammed Jalal, Khalid Alwazzan and Bader Mubarak.

Following the third round of action in the BRMMC, Hassan leapfrogged Mattar to first place on the Max category with 80 points. Mattar is behind by just a single point, while Alsaei is third on 60. Luca’s win in the Junior Max class helped him move to second place with 42 points, only 12 behind leader Sulaiman. Anas is third with 32 points. Genocchio stayed in first in the Max Masters category with 45 markers.

Mohammed Faqihi is in second with 25 points. The BRMMC Entrants Championship, Batelco Drag 965 Racing are in first place with 276 points. Following the fifth round of the SSWS, Buhindi stayed atop the championship standings with 146 points.

Rashid Almuammari is second on 117 points, while Ebrahim is third on 106 points. To mark the end of the day’s events, the winners were presented their respective trophies in a podium ceremony attended by high-ranking officials from BIKC, Bahrain International Circuit and the Bahrain Motor Federation.

The next edition of the BKSC is scheduled to take place in February.

For more information on the BKSC, kindly call the BIKC on 17451745 or visit www. bahrain-karting.com