2009 DAMC Karting Championship – Round 4 at the Kartdrome®
Perfect performance by Rami Azzam at the Kartdrome

Dubai, January 23, 2009:The fourth round of the 2009 DAMC Karting Championship took place at the Kartdrome on Friday, 23 January. Overcast and cool conditions persisted throughout the day, providing ideal racing conditions. In the hotly contested Rotax Max Seniors Class it was Rami Azzam who stole the show with a flawless performance throughout the day, which started well when he nabbed pole position in qualifying from pre-race favourite Scott Latham. From then on he dominated proceedings beating Latham in Heat 1 and the Pre-Final which earned him pole position for the Final. Latham, who is the man to beat in this class, always seemed to be playing catch up, largely due to some below par starts. In touch with the two pace setters and threatening an upset were Howie Cracknell and Mohammed Al Mutawaa, two young up and coming drivers to watch.

Azzam powered into the lead from the start of the Final and simply drove away into the distance. Behind him Cracknell, Mutawaa and Latham grappled going in to the first hairpin with the latter forced wide and again inheriting the catch up role. The battle for second was furious between the trio which gave Azzam, who set a blistering early pace, an edge which he capitalised on while Cracknell led the chase. Drama struck around mid-race when Latham and Mutawaa made contact, which ended Mutawaa’s challenge. Latham stalked down Cracknell and again there was contact with Cracknell the worse off; ending his podium chances although he did continue to finish fifth.

In the end Azzam took the chequered flag, scoring a well deserved victory, with Latham three seconds adrift in what was to be a short lived second place. He was penalised 10 seconds by the Race Stewards for his move on Mutawaa thus relegating him to fourth place and promoting Arnaud Bouf to second place ahead of Karan Rallan who had a race long duel among themselves and were both rewarded with their first ever podium finishes at the Kartdrome. A clearly pleased Azzam said afterwards, “When I managed pole position I felt that if I could stay ahead of the pack and put in some fast consistent laps in the early stages I was in with a chance. And so it happened as the guys were fighting for second place I managed to pull away. I am very happy with the result. It is good to win at the Kartdrome, after all it is my home track!”

It was a tough day for Latham who was always playing catch up, “P2 on the grid today was not a good place to be. I had my problems out on track but congratulations to Rami, he drove great all day and deserves the wins.”

Hassan Dargahi was comfortable winner in the Final of the Rotax Max Masters with Damian Knott second and Andrew Fuller third – Knott won the Pre-Final while Dargahi also took top honours in Heat 1.

Maurits Knopjes won the two man DD2 class with Tony Kekati making a rare appearance taking a distant second place. Knopjes set an impressive 56.658 seconds fastest lap of the day, which is a (to be confirmed) outright lap record.

In the three kart TAG Class race there was heartache for Fadi El Aswadi who dominated until the Final, comfortably quicker than his rivals, when engine problems intervened on his clean sweep ambitions and handing a fortunate win to Ian Prestwich with Warren Christie in second and El Aswadi, engine sputtering, taking third.

Edward Jones was expected to dominate the Rotax Max Juniors Class – although he won the Final – he found out that the opposition had raised their game considerably – Elliot Patrick taking an emphatic pole position and winning Heat 1 with Jones in his slip stream who in turn was not far ahead of newcomer Piers Wals. In the Pre-Final it was young Wals who scored his first win when Patrick was denied victory after being given a 10 seconds penalty by the Race Stewards for contact with Jones who inherited second place as aresult. The scene was set for a thrilling finale and the he trio delivered arguably the best “battle of the day” in the Final, swapping positions and jostling for track space on just about every corner. Wals led in the early stages with Patrick and Jones slugging it out for second place. With a handful of laps to go Jones struck, managing to take command of the race and victory by the narrowest margins over second placed Patrick with Wals taking third.

With the absence of his archrival, Riccardo Curatola, Tom Bale cruised through to unchallenged wins in the Cadet Class Heat 1, Pre-Final and Final. The real interest focused on the battle for second place between a host of contenders including: Pascal Pook, Eduard Ruzsa, Mustafa Malik, Zak Munawer and Cyrus Engineer. The five youngsters set similar lap times throughout the day and provided the entertainment in this class. Pook took second place in Heat 1 followed by Ruzsa, Malik and Engineer. Munawer, who had a DNF, bounced back to take second place in the Pre-Final with Engineer third, ahead of Malik and Pook with a DNF for Ruzsa. In the Final, going into the first hairpin on the first lap, Engineer spun which took him out of podium contention while Pook’s race ended on the spot. At the front Munawer did everything he could to stick with Bale and as a result managed to pull a useful gap over the battle for the final podium spot – in the end Bale took the chequered flag ahead of second placed Munawer, Ruzsa in third and Engineer fighting back to take fourth in the closing laps from Malik who came home fifth.

Shortly after the podium presentation the skies opened up and the rain came down, thus ending a day of action packed racing at the Kartdrome.