The fifth Autocross event and the third Motocross ASM Pasta Poiatti national championship races were held last Sunday.

It was an excellent day for Autocross driver Christian Galea as he won all the three heats and the nine-laps Final A races with little or no difficulty. Though all six cars made a very good start, Christian took the lead ahead of Patrick Cassar who was forced to retire due to suspension failure. The race went on with Manuel Muscat and Ivan Birmingham battling and winning 2nd and 3rd place respectively in the prestigious Class ‘A’.

The road surface seemed to assist Noel Zammit’s veteran Imp for better traction and cornering abilities throughout the race. Joseph Calleja and Mario Scicluna both on Opel Corsa cars and Josef Abela on a Nova cars battled close behind on Noel’s little Imp.

Scicluna managed to take the lead over Zammit in the last couple of laps. During this battling for the placing Abela played an un-sporty deed over Calleja which forced Calleja to retire but Abela was disqualified from the race by the ASM race referee. In the meantime Philip Joe Vella, on a Nova, found his way through Calleja and Abela and placed 3rd overall in this Class ‘B’ 9 Lap final race.

Due to much rain during the week the Motocross track offered greater difficulties than usual in certain areas to the riders performance. The ASM Race Director decided to reduce the racing times to 6 minutes + 1 Lap thus eliminating risks to accidents.

Class A rider Carmel Borg winning the first two heats and 3rd in heat 3 placed him first overall in the day. All the three heats were beautiful to watch as Borg, on a Suzuki RMZ, Clayton Camilleri ,on a KTM SFX, and Stefan Dimech, on a Honda CRF, were at times riding very close to each other throughout the race.

During the second heat, Borg had much pressure from Dimech but during Lap 3, a mistake from Dimech caused Camilleri to add the pressure on Borg who resisted very well to the race finish. The start of the third heat saw Dimech, Camilleri and Paul Muscat on a KTM SFX taking the lead over Borg. Yet Borg took the challenge and gain a placing over Muscat later on in the race. Dimech took the Finish Flag closely followed by Camilleri and Borg in third place who gained enough points to win the day’s overall placing followed by Dimech and Camilleri.

Three different riders won the three heats of the day in Class B Motocross.

During the first heat, the challenge for first place was between Turu Micallef and Brandon Slowe, both on Honda CRF’s, while Joseph Bigeni from Gozo, on a Yamaha YZ, held third place. 

Charles Borg, on a Honda CRF, took the lead over Micallef midway during the second heat race with Bigeni staying third in Class. Micallef took the lead in the third Heat with Bigeni and Borg following close by.

Micallef did not resist the pressure of Bigeni who took the lead early in the race. Borg finished third in class. Micallef won the Class B Overall by one point in over Bigeni with Borg in third place among the 11 riders on the Start Gate.

Next Sunday the ASM trials bikers will be performing shows during the l-iStrina event. The second Trials competition will be organised next Tuesday 13 December from 10am at the ASM Race Circuits at Ta’ Qali.