MUSCAT, OCT 25 - It was a battle between the top two drivers of the earlier round at the Oman Motorkhana Championship Round 2 at the Oman Automobile Association (OAA) Muscat Speed Arena.
Ammar al Balushi, who was second at the opening round, weathered a stiff challenge from first-round winner Zakariya al Aufi to claim the top honours of second round, late on Friday.
Ammar and Zakariya now have 43 points each after the two rounds of Motorkhana event and it will be another duel between them for the championship in the third and final round on December 27.
Laith al Mawali, who made his first appearance in the championship this year, claimed the third spot.
Ammar said it was a satisfying performance from him that fetched the top place.
“I was very much focused this round because it was tougher than the opening round. I am happy that I could improve my second place in first round to first today. I hope to continue the same form in the third and final round,” Ammar told the Observer.
Zakariya, who narrowly missed the top podium, said it was a decent effort from him.
“As the round was little difficult with more turns and challenges, I did a consistent performance during the three heats.”
“I hope to repeat my first round feat in the final round to claim the championship,” the Oman rally driver said.
Ammar, who clocked the top time of the round in heat 3 (1 minute 13.067 seconds), leapfrogged Zakariya who was till then leading with a timing of 1:13.210 clocked in heat 1. Laith al Mawali also kept his best for the last heat to produce a timing of 1:13.541 to finish third.
Laith, who had won several prizes in the past years of the championship, said he missed the first round but was happy to make it to the second round and claim third position.
“I am working in oil field and I sometimes find it difficult to participate in some OAA events. Anyway, I have a passion for the motorsports and I am super happy to make it to the podium in Round 2,” Al Mawali, who gave a good competition to the top two drivers, said.
IBTHIAJ CONTINUES FORM
In contrast to the opening round there were only two women drivers in the total field of 18 drivers.
The first round saw a record number of 17 women taking part among the total 27 drivers.
But the top two drivers in the first round were in action and Ibthiaj al Hajri again topped the women’s section and Mazoon al Riyami came second.
Falahil Omar al Falahil, board member of the Oman Automobile Association, was the chief guest of the night and gave away trophies to the top three drivers in different sections.
“It was a good and compact racing from the participants with the round ending smoothly without any incidents,” Al Falahil said.
In section wise results, Laith al Mawali claimed the top spot in AWD Open. Wail al Shaibani finished second and Mohammed al Mazroui came third.
In FWD Open, Zakariya al Aufi finished on top followed by Salim al Rawahi and Nawaf al Balushi.
Ammar al Balushi clinched the honours in the RWD Open. Mustafa al Maamari was second and Zaher al Shaqsi ended third.
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