On Saturday evening 7th July 2018 Assocjazzjoni Sport Muturi u Karozzi closed the 2017/2018 season by organizing the last and 12th event of the National Autocross Championship sponsored by Pasta Poiatti. The day's program ended with the Big Van Demolition Derby 2018 after the past 24 years.
20 Autocross cars registered for the Saturday evening races which were divided into three classes, that for Modified cars, for Standard cars and another Class for Gozo drivers only. During the Heats of the day in the Modified class we saw Karl Micallef on his Ford Fiesta who dominated and secured his place in the A Final of the day. Vince Farrugia qualified on his Volkswagen Polo, Jean Paul Grech on his Peugeot 106, Melo Zammit and Jonathan Camilleri both on Opel Corsa and the Ford Fiesta of Ryan Scicluna.
From the Start of this Final we saw Grech and Micallef make a very good launch and it was Grech taking the lead followed by Micallef and Zammit. Along the nine laps race we saw no changes in positions as all drivers defended their positioning to the end. The final result shows that Grech won this Final A followed by Micallef and Zammit. Fourth place finisher was Camilleri whilst Fifth and Sixth places were won by Scicluna and Farrugia repectively.
The Final race of the Modified Autocross Class B registers Noel Zammit on his Fiat Punto as the winner of this final followed by Joseph Spiteri on his Opel Corsa and Brandon Lee Vassallo on his Peugeot 205. Fourth place is won by Keith Borg on a Vauxhall Nova.
The result of the Standard Class shows that the Citroen AX driven by Lucas Pace won the race final. Nicovich Chircop on his Peugeot 106 won 2nd place ahead of the Kia Avella of Jerome Peplow. Fourth place was won by Chris Formosa on his Ford Fiesta.
The Result of the Gozo drivers class registers George Scerri on a Citreon AX as the class winner and Chris Sultana on a Daewoo Racer in 2nd place. Third place finisher was Clayton Cardona on his Peugeot 106.
The Association officially announced the champions and runner-up of the Pasta Poiatti Autocross National Championships 2017/2018. Vince Farrugia on Volkswagen Polo is the winner of the ASMK Pasta Poiatti Autocross National Championship 2017/2018. Farrugia is going to put his name down for the first time as Champion in this section. During this season Farrugia was followed by Karl Micallef on Ford Fiesta
The Association also honours the class which are not held on National Championship basis and also acknowledges the winner of the class. In the Autocross Class B the Ford Fiesta driver Ryan Scicluna drove to victory and won the Overall in Class B. Scicluna is followed by Keith Borg on Vauxhall Nova.
The day's program ended with 2018 Big Van Demolition Derby where the main interest for this Demolition came from the competitors themselves who during these last months made efforts to purchase large vans for this event. The organization of the three Demolition events organised so far this year are contributing to the environment as ASMK has reduced no less 90 vehicles from the Maltese roads. The next big car Demolition is scheduled to be held next December just before Christmas.
Meanwhile for this Demolition edition 13 vans were registered but only 9 managed to make it to the Starting line with drivers Mauro Cassar on a Tata Sumo, Leo Butler on a Fiat Ducato, Massimo Borg on a Toyota Lite Ace, Michael Delia on a Tata Safari, Larkin Butler on a Peugeot boxer, Karl Mizzi on a Ford Transit, Jason Magro on a Tata Safari and Marlon Cassar and Frank Butler competed on Tata Sierra.
From the Start of the Demolition the drivers prepared a surprise for the spectators when the big Piaggo van of Larkin Butler opened its rear doors and out came a Piaggo small van who escorted the demolition vehicles during the two Laps which they normally do before the Start of the Demolition.
Following this the small van drove out of the track and the Demolition began by chasing and banging spectacular technical bumps which lasted about 30 minutes. The battle in the last few minutes before the end of the chase draws alertness among the spectators. This is mainly due to the state of the vehicles involved and becoming almost un-recognizable. During this battling Michael Delia and Larkin Butler were seen to be the finishers but at one point Delia managed to re-start his Tata engine besides he had problems with a broken front wheel. In the mean time it was not all plain sailing for Larkin but his big van was still moving under its own power. Although Delia managed to again restart his badly damaged van it was too difficult for him to continue so he decided to switch off his engine to Larkin Butler who finished winning the Demolition on his Peugeot Boxer and Delia won the Runner-Up.
The Association would like to thank all participants of this 2017/2018 season for their Support, the Sponsors, Pasta Poiatti, Gasan Zammit of Honda Motors, Wotomoto of Beta and several other small firms for their support and making it possible to successfully organize these competitions.
The Association stops its activities during these two summer months but will be undergoing the process to elect its Officers and sectional Committees for its different disciplines. Motorsport Activities will be returning by next September for a set of new championships.
Further information one can find it on the website of the Association www.asmk.org.mt or Facebook pages named A.S.M.K. Malta or Assocjazzjoni Sport Muturi u Karozzi. One can make contact by email [email protected] and Mobile 99425489.