Middle East Karting Cup, Round 2

press release

Finals Day:
Saturday was Finals day in Round 2 of the Middle East Karting Cup 2009 at Ghibli Raceway. The Pre-Finals were raced in the morning and the Finals in the afternoon. The two drivers that had dominated each class duly took the major honors. But there had been plenty of incident and good racing to entertain the spectators all day.

Above: Italy's Piero De Marchi leading the final

Above: Press conference for senior podium

In the Senior class, championship leader Piero De Marchi of Italy had to start the Pre-Final on row 3 having missed the final heat on Friday afternoon. Scott Lathem from UAE was the early leader, but Piero De Marchi took the lead at the quarter race distance and went to win comfortably. Scott Lathem was second, but Dory Aoun from Lebanon had a superb drive into the third place.

The only lady racer in the event Maria Michael from Cyprus had her best race of the weekend to finish an excellent fourth. In the Final Scott Lathem was the surprise early leader and held off the challenge of Piero De Marchi for three laps. However, on the fourth lap Piero went past and maintained his lead to the finish. Chant Etyemezian from Lebanon and Nicos Demetriou from Cyprus both came strongly through the field and at three-quarter race distance Chant was challenging Scott Lathem for the second place. However, with just four laps to go Scott's engine seized and his race was over.  Chant finished second and Nicos joined him and Piero on the podium. Dory Aoun of Lebanon completed a good weekend in fifth place and the lady driver Maria Michael was sixth.

Above: Junior winner Heinrich Watson-Miller

In the Junior class, Heinrich Watson-Miller who lives in England, but has a German mother and British father completed a clean sweep. He was unbeaten throughout the event and won the Final easily. William Steel from Lebanon came through from the back to finish second in the Pre-Final in front of Yazan Hamadeh from Syria. In the Final William retained his second place throughout the race, but the unfortunate Yazan suffered a puncture and although he battled on bravely, he finished only fifth. Michael Patrick Azar started the Final on the back row, but came through to finish third.

An interesting feature of the Final was the close battle between the two brother from Libya Amin and Hassan Soufrakis, although later in the race Hassan had an engine problem and dropped down to sixth. Amin just missed a podium place finishing fourth.

Above: Junior podium

This was the first time that drivers from Lebanon had raced at Ghibli Raceway and their fans produced a great atmosphere with the cheers and waving the Lebanese flag. It was also the first appearance in the Middle East Karting Cup at Ghibli Raceway for drivers from Cyprus and Saudi Arabia.

The 2009 Middle East Karting Cup has its climax this coming weekend when history will be made. All races will be during the hours of darkness under floodlights. This will be the first time that a CIK-FIA sanctioned event has taken place under the floodlights. So, Ghibli Raceway follows Singapore in Formula 1 and Qatar in Moto GP into the record book.  

Above: Seniors wait on the grid - how about the massive light tower on the infield!

Above: Juniors race past the control tower

Above: Junior winner, Watson-Miller

Above: facing the starter

Day 2:
The second day of Round 2 Middle East Karting Cup 2009 increased the tension among the drivers with tougher competition and higher speed at the track. Friday's heats produced a dominant driver in each class, Piero De Marchi in Seniors and Henrich Watson-Miller in Juniors. However, there was a big drama at the start of the last race of the day with Cyprus driver Maria Michael, who had an accident by hitting her ankle, but returned back to the race to participate in the final day of Round 2 on July 4th.

In the Senior class, Piero De Marchi from Italy was the easy winner of the first two races. However, he needed attention to the chassis of his kart, but when he tried to go to the track for heat 3, he found he was two minutes too late and could not make the start. This gave an opportunity to Scott Lathem from UAE  to take a victory. He had also had a problem in race 1 when a damaged rear bumper required him to come into the pits.

But when all the calculations had been made, it was Scott Lathem who secured pole position for Saturday morning's Pre Final. He will be joined on the front row by Maurizio Paterni from Italy. Row 2 will see Chant Etyemezian from Lebanon and Nicos Demetrious from Cyprus, both of whom had excellent drives each time having to start from the very back of the grid.

Championship leader Piero De Marchi will start on the third row bidding to retain his unbeaten record in the Pre-Finals and Finals.

In the Junior class, Henrich Watson-Miller had three easy victories and so qualified on pole position for the Junior Pre-Final. He will be joined on the front row by Yazan Hamadeh from Syria. Yazan lies second in the championship standings to Hassan Soufrakis from Lybia. However, Hassan did not have an easy time in Friday's heats and will start the Pre-Final on row 3 alongside Ahmed Kashwa from Egypt.

In front of them are two drivers from Lebanon, William Steel and Michael Patrick Azar. Both of these had to start their races at the back of the grid, but both regularly came through the field to record good finishing positions.

The Pre-Finals in both classes will be raced on Saturday morning and Round 2 of Middle East Karting Cup 2009 comes to its climax on Saturday afternoon with the Finals.

Day 1:
Round 2 opened with free practice for both classes followed by a timed qualifying practice session at the end of the day.

In the Senior class the championship leader Piero De Marchi from Italy posted the fastest time of 1:02:027, which put him on pole position for Friday's heats. He will be joined on the front row by Scott Lathem of New Zealand, whose best time was 1:02:576. Both Piero and Scot have been quick all day, but Ahmed Sukhtian of Jordan had problems until everything finally came good for him in qualifying practice. He was third quickest and will start on the second row of the grid alongside Maurizio Paterni of Italy.

The big disappointment was Chant Etyemezian of Lebanon, who had been fast in free practice, but only qualified 11th.

In the Junior class Heinrich Jon Watson Miller secured pole position with the best time of 1:03:520, which was over a second quicker than fellow front row starter Yazan Hamadeh. The major surprise here was for championship leader Hassan Soufrakis from Lybia. He was clearly very fast, but had not secured his transponder firmly in its holder and so no time was registered. Consequently, he will start Friday's heats from the back.  

Both classes will race three heats each of 15 laps and the results from those heats will determine the starting positions in Saturday morning's Pre Finals.

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