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One of Bahrain’s youngest karting race winners continued his near-flawless season with a decisive victory in the second round of the 2021 Bahrain Rotax Max Challenge, held as part of this year’s Bahrain’s Karting Sprint Championship.
Shaikh Rashid bin Salman Al Khalifa emerged victorious in the Micro Max category at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) last weekend. He now leads the championship with 69 points.
Shaikh Rashid clinched pole with a best lap of one minute 4.867 seconds, but was pipped to first place by 0.130s in the pre-final by team mate Charlie Goddard.
“There was an issue with the lights and I had a terrible race start,” the 10-year-old speedster told GulfWeekly after the race.
“I was unable to close the gap in the pre-final but then took the lead in the final.”
He was able to power to the win after taking the lead in lap five, passing Khaled Alnajjar.
Shaikh Rashid completed the nine-lap sprint in 9:27.096, while Alnajjar followed 0.859s back. Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa was third 27.910s off the winning mark.
Meanwhile, in the Senior Max class, Fahad Alkhaled took home the top prize, after taking pole and winning the 11-lap pre-final by 0.608 seconds.
In the 15-lap final, Alkhaled led from pole to podium winning 2.622 seconds ahead of Lewis Smith and 6.531 seconds ahead of Najashi Rashdan.
In the Junior Max class, Fahad Almuqla took pole with a best lap of 58.704 seconds in qualifying before winning the 11-lap pre-final.
He then went on to win the 15-lap final, a comfortable 13.231 seconds ahead of Abdulqader Qasem and 17.201 seconds ahead of Sari Alzubi.
In the Mini Max class, Shanthosh Kumar beat out Luca Houghton to pole by 0.504s in qualifying. Houghton responded with a win in the pre-final, leaving Kumar 0.826s behind. He went on to win the nine-lap final.
Alkhaled, Almuqla and Houghton lead their respective classes with 70 points apiece, while Shaikh Rashid leads the Micro Max category with 69 points.
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