Three of the top stars in national karting were victorious in the final round of the 2015/2016 Bahrain Karting Sprint Championship (BKSC), held at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.
Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Talal Beshara and Rashid Almuammari each claimed an impressive double in their respective race categories under the BKSC.
Shaikh Isa triumphed in two races in the Max category of the Bahrain Rotax Mojo Max Challenge (BRMMC) while Talal won both sprints in the BRMMC’s Junior Max class. Almuammari, on the other hand, clinched both races in the Bahrain SWS Sprint Championship (SWS).
Both the BRMMC and the SWS make up the BKSC. The BRMMC is an exclusive championship for Rotax kart owners with the competitors battling it out in different classes depending on their age and skill levels; while the SWS is an open arrive-and-drive series where participants compete in identical BIKC-supplied Sodikarts.
Shaikh Isa and Beshara both enjoyed perfect rounds in the BRMMC.
Shaikh Isa qualified for pole in the Max category for race one with a blistering lap of 57.781 seconds around BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) track. Beshara followed suit in his Junior Max class, taking the leading grid spot with a top qualifying time of 59.497s.
Shaikh Isa powered to a fine race one victory after completing the 11-lap sprint in 10 minutes 38.576 seconds. Shaikh Isa finished 2.975s ahead of runner-up Shaikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and was also 8.947s in front of Hussain Hasan, who completed the podium placers.
Beshara clinched first place amongst the Junior Max competitors with a win in 10:59.250. Alexander Bekkers was in second place.
In BRMMC race two, Shaikh Isa managed to secure his fine double after a tightly contested event that saw only 0.116s separate him and Shaikh Mohammed. The pair were in impressive form, as Hasan completed the same podium but was a distant 10.472s behind.
Beshara won the Juniors Max race in 10:58.629. Bekkers was second and Zaid Audih was classified third.
Meanwhile, Almuammari enjoyed a pair of hotly contested SWS races, each of which featured a packed field of 17 competitors.
Tarryn Pods had the brilliant start to the SWS action after grabbing pole position with a best lap of 1:13.375 during qualifying.
In race one, Almuammari managed to steal the advantage and then stave off a pair of hard-charging challenges by Khalid Alwazzan and Mohammed Aldemestani.
Almuammari took the chequered flag in a total race time of 13:31.208. Alwazzan was a mere 0.090s behind, while Aldemestani was just 1.846s back.
In race two, Almuammari had less pressure from behind as he cruised to his second successive win in 13:24.291. Ahmed Ebrahim was this time in second 4.954s back as Alwazzan closed out the podium after claiming third 9.137s from the winner.
Following BKSC’s season finale, Shaikh Isa was among a trio of drivers who were crowned champions of their respective categories.
Shaikh Isa clinched the season’s title in the BRMMC’s Max category after finishing ahead on points of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed and Hassan.
Audih won the Junior Max crown. He finished in front of Beshara and Bekkers.
In the SWS, Abdulla Buhindi was the new champion. Ali Baslar emerged as the runner-up and Ebrahim took third place.
The 2015/2016 BKSC season was comprised of six rounds of the BRMMC and eight in the SWS. Each event took place at the world-class BIKC facilities in Sakhir.