The presentation of the Malta Auto Racing Awards 2011 was held recently at the Kon Tiki restaurant of the Radisson Blu Resort in St. Julian’s.

The management of the Radisson Blu Resort, led by Mr Winston J. Zahra, offered a complimentary buffet dinner to the six winners and their guest as one of the prizes. A number of nominees and other friends and family members joined the winners for the dinner and the presentation of attractive auto racing plaques.

The six winners were also presented a complimentary 24-hour towing and roadside assistance membership for a year kindly offered by the Director of the Motor Towing Co-operative (MTC), Joe Caruana, following the intervention of the founding President of the Touring Club Malta.

The presentation of the awards was held at this time so that the winner of the Malta Auto Racing Junior Driver of the Year 2011, eight-year old Jean Sammut could be present and join the other winners. Jean, who is racing karts successfully, lives in the United Kingdom with his parents, and he was on vacation in Malta for the Easter holidays.

The other winners were Alan Curmi – Malta Auto Racing Driver of the Year 2011; the racing car of Joshua Anastasi, the JBR4 – Kawasaki - the Malta Auto Racing Car of the Year 2011; Frans Deguara – the Malta Auto Racing Official of the Year 2011; Adrian Cauchi – the Malta Auto Racing Kart Driver of the Year 2011; and Aldo Vella - the winner of the Malta Auto Racing Technical Award of the Year 2011. Alan and Aldo were unfortunately unable to attend because of last minute urgent personal commitments.

All the nominees who participated in the process were invited and offered an award to mark their nomination. Johann Pace, runner-up, and Francis Joseph Azzopardi, one of the nominees, were presented with their awards in the Malta Auto Racing Official of the Year 2011 category.

In addition to these awards, an extra award called the Malta Auto Racing Legend Award was presented to Godwin Martin on behalf of his uncle Joseph Martin, known popularly among motor racing fans as JoJo.

JoJo has given a long and useful contribution to motor sports in Malta in several ways, most notably the introduction of drag racing on a legal basis and the establishment of the Malta Drag Racing Association. He also helped the Malta Automobile & Cycle Racing Association (MACRA) both when things were running smoothly as well as during more difficult times when extra efforts were needed to obtain permits for various types of competitions.

As could be expected, young Jean Sammut who has a very promising future in kart racing was the centre of attention and he enjoyed every minute of the attention showered on him.