Middle East Karting Cup - Final Round

press release

In the Pre-Final race Edward Jones of UAE started from grid one followed by English fox Henrich Watson-Miller from grid two, Lebanese eagle William Steel from third grid, Round 1 championship leader Hassan Soufrakis from the fourth grid and Ahmed Kashwa of Egypt from the fifth grid followed by Michael Patrick of Lebanon, Amin Soufrakis from Libya and Yazan Hamadah of Syria from the eighth grid.


Above: Juniors round the last corner at Ghibli Raceway

With the rolling start for fifteen laps Edward Jones led the race from the first lap and followed during the whole race by Heinrich Watson-Miller. Meanwhile, on the second row competition between Ahmed Kashwa, Hassan Soufrakis and William Steel have been completed when Steel reached the third position followed by Ahmed Kashwa and Hassan Soufrakis in the fourth and fifth positions respectively. Juniors' Pre-Final race ended with Michael Patrick reaching the fifth position making Hassan Soufrakis shift to the sixth position followed by his brother Amin Soufrakis and Yazan Hamadeh.

In Senior class, Pre-Final race witnessed the unexpected end of the race to Piero De Marchi in the seventeenth lap out of 20 laps overall, when he lost his engine that gave the Australian driver Scott Lathem of UAE the privilege of leading the race in the first position. He was followed by Chant Etyemezian of Lebanon who started the race from the third grid and reached the second one followed by Ahmed Sukhtian who started the race from the fourth grid.
20-laps race witnessed the tough competition between Lebanese driver Etyemezian and Jordanian driver Sukhtian followed by Maurizio Paterni of Italy and Dory Aoun of Lebanon. After them there was a Cyprus team including Nicos Demetriou and the only lady in the championship Maria Michael. During the days of the race she celebrated her father's birthday with other drivers and organizers at Ghibli Raceway International Karting track. At the end Chant Etyemezian came first to stand in the first grid of the Final followed by Scott Lathem in the second grid and Ahmed Sukhtian in the third grid.   


Above: Senior Rotax in action

In the Final race for 20 laps in Junior class Edward Jones led all drivers from the first grid followed by Heinrich Watson-Miller and William Steel respectively in addition to Egyptian pharaoh Ahmed Kashwa in the fourth position followed by Michael Patrick of Lebanon and Soufrakis brothers with Yazan Hamadeh ending the racing line from the eighth grid. During the beginning of the race Yazan Hamadeh left the track, despite of leading the championship earlier with the best points. On the other hand, Ahmed Kashwa of Egypt was able to control his position in front of Michael Patrick who tried to push very hard from behind to pass Ahmed Kashwa, but failed to do so. By the end of the race, all drivers reached almost at the same grid positions to the finish line.

Senior's 25-laps final race had witnessed absence of many drivers for the mechanical reasons like Sanad Shanak of Jordan, Antonio Nawfal of Lebanon and Italian champion Piero De Marchi after he lost his kart engine in the Pre-Final. Race started with the leading driver Scott Lathem followed by tough competition between Chant Etyemezian and Ahmed Sukhtian from Jordan for the second position. At the end of the race Etyemezian reached the second position followed by Sukhtian at the third position. Meanwhile, second competition rows witnessed hard competition between Maurizio Paterni of Italy, Dory Aoun from Lebanon and Nicos Dimitriou and Maria Michael from Cyprus. At the 17th lap Paterni went out of the race because of the mechanical problems in his kart. Meanwhile, Chant Etyemezian was trying hardly to pass Scott Lathem from behind, but he was not able to do it till the end of the race.
Prize giving ceremony has been attended by General Mohamed Hany Mitwali, Governor of South Sinai, and Ramzy Zaklyama Board Member of ATCE, Khaled Taki Board Member of EFMS and Hany Soufrakis, Chairman of Ghibli Raceway and Norman Soufrakis Board Member of Ghibli Raceway.


Above: the round 3 press conference

At the second day after the championship Ghibli Raceway organized the Gala Dinner in Iberotel Lido hotel on Naama Bay, including the honoring ceremony of the MEKC 2009 championship winners for senior and junior categories – Piero De Marchi and Chant Etyemezian in senior class and Heinrich Watson-Miller and William Steel in junior class. At the end of the ceremony Hany Soufrakis announced that the coming 2010 season of MEKC will start in November 2009. He invited all the drivers and VIPs to share the expected success of the coming championship.


Above: Junior form up


Above: Maria Michel


Above: Miller and Jons, Jnr Rotax


Above: Chant Atimizian

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