Karting thriller!

Karters put on a thrilling display of racing skills over the weekend with the first-ever champions in the Sakhir Rotax MAX Challenge (SRMC) crowned.

The highly competitive national karting championship, held in the kingdom for the first time, saw Fahad Almuqla clinch the Senior MAX class title.

Luca Houghton won the Junior MAX title while Shaikh Rashid bin Salman Al Khalifa secured first in the Mini MAX. Shaikh Ahmed bin Saqer Al Khalifa took home the Micro MAX title and Anthony Hogg won in the DD2 MAX class.

Almuqla finished the inaugural four-round campaign with 126 points. He finished the season just 10 points ahead of runner-up Lewis Smith who had 116 points, which included the victory in the final race of the campaign. It was the tightest championship battle on the SRMC standings. Shaikha Haya bint Saqer Al Khalifa was third with 89 points.

In the Junior MAX category, Houghton was the runaway title winner, ending the season with 136 points including a clean sweep of the finals in all four rounds.

Alexander Skjelten came second with 97 points and Gracie Rose Grantham third with 86.

Shaikh Rashid was the champion in the Mini MAX category, winning one final and stepping onto the podium three other times en route to scoring 119 points.

Charlie Goddard came in second with 103 points and Khaled Alnajjar was third with one point less.

Shaikh Ahmed won the Micro MAX with 115 points and took first place in the Finals of three of the rounds. Alexander Christov came second with 97 points and Yousif Bader was third with 56.

Hogg won the DD2 MAX category with 53 points and Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa followed with 37 points in second. Rashid Almuammari came third with 35 points.

The SRMC is BIKC’s new action-packed addition in the long-established Bahrain Rotax MAX Challenge, which is scheduled to take place later this season.

Visit www.bahraingp.com for details.