The ninth Autocross and the fourth Motocross championship events were held last Sunday at the ASM Racing Circuits at Ta’ Qali. Bad weather conditions offered greater challenges to all competitors.
During the Autocross heats, only Manuel Muscat and Mario Scicluna won all the qualifying heats thus they secured their place in the Class A finals.
Scicluna took the lead from the start of the Class A Finals while Galea on a Ritmo and Melo Zammit on an Escort Mk 3 followed close behind. During the third lap Scicluna missed his racing line and over-turned his Opel Corsa.
Thus, Galea and Zammit took the lead of the remaining laps. Muscat passed ahead of Christian Calleja (27) and closed the gap on Malcolm Borg who was now running in third place. A mechanical suspension failure forced Muscat to retire on the sixth lap. Thus, Christian Galea won the day’s final and is leading the ASM-Poiatti Championship with ten (10) valuable points.
Ivan and Vince Birmingham (son and father) started leading the 9 lap final B race while Paul Zammit on a Fiesta and Philip Grima on a Mk 3 Escort followed close by. There were no overtaking throughout the race from start to finish and the Birmingham’s won first and second places.
The Motocross Class A riders made a great show of high skills and abilities. In heat 1 Stefan Dimech took the lead and was followed close by Carm Borg and Clayton Camilleri on KTM.
Though the track was wet in places, they raced at high speeds. Camilleri overtook Dimech and secured his second placing in this heat. Camilleri took the lead of the second heat ahead of Dimech and Borg.
But during the third heat though Camilleri took the lead again and finished in 1st place, Paul Muscat who followed Camilleri ahead of Dimech. Camilleri won his first race during this current motocross championship on his KTM. Dimech is second and Muscat is third on the day.
During race 1 of class B, Charles Borg took the lead on his Honda CRF. James Zahra on a Yamaha and Renato Mizzi on another CRF followed close by up the fifth from seven laps. Borg won this race as Zahra retired due to a fall and Mizzi had to retire due to a mechanical failure. Turu Micallef and Joseph Bigeni in second and third in this heat. James Zahra made a very good lead in the start of the second heat while Ch. Borg and Lee Cortis who was later lost his place to Bigeni.
The race continued with excitement but Zahra took the finish flag first, followed by Gozitans Ch. Borg and Joseph Bigeni. During the third heat, it was Zahra again who took the lead but it was Trever Muscat who followed Zahra and ahead of Ch Borg and Bigeni. Yet, Zahra won the seventh lap heat with Trever Muscat and Joseph Bigeni winning second and third in class.
Next event by ASM at Ta’ Qali will be held on Sunday 26 February 2012. Weather permitting ASM is to include the first Trials bikers Championship from 9am. The 10th Autocross Championship event is scheduled to start at noon. Practice sessions will take place on Saturday 25 February from 2pm.