Hussain Hasan and Ali Baslar were the big winners during the fourth and penultimate round of the 2017/2018 Bahrain Karting Sprint Championship (BKSC), held at Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC) in Sakhir.
Hasan was the big winner in the Bahrain Rotax Mojo Max Challenge (BRMMC) while Baslar triumphed in the Bahrain Sprint Sodi World Series (BSSWS). Both the BRMMC and BSSWS make up the BKSC, and with only one round left to go, the battle for the season titles heated up dramatically.
BIKC’s 1.414-km Commission Internationale de Karting track hosted all the BKSC action.
Hasan clinched first place overall and was also the top man in the BRMMC’s Max category. He completed the 15-lap sprint in 14 minutes22.039 seconds. Second in class was Rashid Almuammari 4.413 seconds behind, while Najashi Rashdan took the final podium spot 8.346s back.
Winning the Junior Max category was Fahad Al Khaled in 14:51.272. Sulaiman Alkanderi finished as the runner-up 7.347s behind.
Isa Abdulla followed suit by winning the Max Masters class in 14:58.264. He narrowly beat Essa Al Dossary to the finish by just 1.581s.
Meanwhile, Fahad Al Muqla triumphed amongst Mini Max participants. Competing over 11 laps, he finished in 11:51.976. Xanda Topp was second 0.379s back, while Matteo Quintarelli finished third 12.484s adrift.
Shantosh Kumar completed the list of winning BRMMC drivers with a dominant pace in the Micro Max class. He completed their sprint in 12:29.142, a massive 33.182s from first. Gracie Rose Grantham claimed the final podium step, finishing the race a lap behond Kumar.
Following the round’s results, Rashdan moved into a tie for first place with Almuammari on the Max championship standings. They each have 113 points, setting the stage for an exciting battle in the final round of the season. Hassan is third with 94 points.
Abdulla has virtually won the Max Masters class as he improved to 95 points, 60 ahead of Al Dossary.
In the Junior Max, Alkanderi strengthened his title ambitions after going on to 111 points, with Fahad Khaled a distant second on 70.
Al Muqla moved into first place on the Mini Max standings with 95 points. Xanda Topp follows in second with 93 markers. Kumar to the season’s crown in the Micro Max class. He has 129 points and is well ahead of current second-placer Kalan Vine who has 85 points.
Meanwhile, Baslar’s victory in the BSSWS was secured after he completed the race’s 15 laps in a total time of 18:22.069.
Baslar was given a tough challenge by Abdulla Buhindi, who followed in the classification as the runner-up a mere 0.100s behind, while Mohammed Amin was third 0.124s back.
Bader Mubarak came fourth, Kahlid Al Zayed fifth, and Pre-Final winner Yousif Khamiri sixth.
A total of 20 karters competed in the race.
After round four and heading into the season finale, Buhindi leads with 142 points with Baslar in second on 119 markers. Khamiri is third on 111 points.
The fifth and final round of the BKSC will take place on April 6 at BIKC.