19 April 2009
Report: DAMC Karting Championship, Round 6 at the Kartdrome
Champions decided in final round

The sixth and final round of the 2008/2009 DAMC Karting Championship took place at the Kartdrome this past weekend on Friday, 17 April 2009. Although a smaller than normal field of competitors turned up, on the dusty day, most of the top drivers were present including Speedcar Series driver Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum.

In the DAMC Max Seniors Class Scott Latham, who had his sights set on the title, was the driver to beat and Sheikh Hasher his biggest threat to clinching the title in style. Latham won the Pre-final and was battling with Sheikh Hasher for the lead in the Final when the two collided, bringing out the yellow flag. Both resumed but had lost a great deal of time which enabled Arnaud Bouf and Jason Scott Poupard to get through, with a delighted Bouf taking his first Class win and Poupard claiming second ahead of Latham. The latter doing enough to take home the 2008/2009 DAMC Max Seniors Championship title.

In the DAMC Max Masters Class the day belonged to Hassan Dargahi who in both the Pre-final and Final took top honours ahead of Paul Healy and Damian Knott. Third place was enough to give Knott the class Championship title.

Edward Jones entered the round 6 as favourite for the DAMC Max Juniors title which he clinched by the end of the day, but it was Grace Brownlee who stole the show on the day with victory in the Final ahead of Jones and Elliott Patrick.

The DAMC TAG class suffered with small fields through most of the season but this did not dilute the action at the front where Fadi Al Aswad deservedly took the 2008/2009 title after a season long duel with Warren Christie and Ian Prestwich. On the final day Warren Christie won the Pre-final from John Mace, but Al Aswad bounced back to win the Final from Christie and thus notch up the title.

Tom Bale  has been the dominant driver in the 2008/2009 DAMC Cadet Class Championship and took the title in fine style, winning everything on offer on the final day. Behind him the tussle for runner-up slot was as fierce as ever with Mustafa Malik, Patrick Hannah and Zak Munawer slugging it out and crossing the line in that order. Munawer’s fourth place was enough to nab second place in the Cadet Championship ahead of third placed Malik.

The SWS Sprint Race concept was introduced on the final day featuring 22 top SWS leisure kart drivers competing with the Kartdrome’s Arrive & Drive karts. The inaugural race attracted none less than Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum and Yellow Hat Touring Car ace Sam Zian. From the outset Sheikh Hasher proved to be the driver to beat and went on to win the Final. Behind him was the battle of the day between Zian and regular DAMC Max Senior driver rnaud Bouf. The two slugged it out in the final, swapping positions on just about every lap with Bouf getting the upper hand to take second place with Zian third in his slipstream. Across the field there were big battles which augers well for future races which is likely to include a summer SWS Sprint series.

Thus concluded the 2008/2009 DAMC Karting season at the Kartdrome, one which saw some ultra-competitive races and brought out the best from the abovementioned champions but also threw up some new names whoc will be drivers to watch in the future including the likes of Rami Azzam, Mohammed Al Mutawaa and Howie Cracknell.

Click here to download the final positions