Austrian Kevin Reichard played the waiting game to perfection to win the Senior Rotax Max Final race of the second round of the Middle East Karting Championship (MEKC) at the Kartdrome at the Dubai Autodrome on Saturday, 1 March.
After two opening days of dominance by local hero Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum the Austrian ace timed his attack to perfection by peaking in the Pre-Final and stamped his authority with a commanding drive to victory in the Final.
The signs of Reichard’s intentions and capabilities were there throughout the build-up to the final day, although Al Maktoum set the pace and topped the timing sheets, Reichard was only fractionally slower prompting some to correctly predict that he was saving the best for last – and so it transpired.
Starting from pole position Reichard miscued the start allowing Al Makotum to take the lead but it was short-lived as the Austrian pounced and retook the lead where he stayed until the chequered flag dropped, winning by over 8 seconds. The victory is his second in a row, in the series, as last month he won the first round of the MEKC at Sharm Al Sheikh – the championship now appears to be a mere formality for the Austrian.
Reichard said of his victory, "It was a good race for me. I spent the previous two days learning the Kartdrome and following Sheikh Hasher. I knew I could do it as by the Final my kart was well setup for the circuit. It was a good week of racing and I am very happy to win in Dubai."
Al Maktoum was demoted to third after Reichard’s move as Scott Latham made an opportunist move to claim second. The two battled it out for runner-up spot until the halfway mark when Al Makotum past but by then the leader was nowhere in sight. The two continued to circulate in tandem with Al Makotum taking second place and Latham the third and final spot on the podium. Italy’s Piero De Marchi finished fourth after a race long duel with Iranian Sayed Farhad and UAE’s Saeed Al Maherri.
Al Maktoum said after the race, "It was disappointing because we had the pace to run with Kevin (Reichard) but I got into a battle with Scott (Latham) which put us out of touch, with the leader, to challenge for the win. I must congratulate Kevin who is a very good driver and he deserves his victory."
In the Juniors Rotax Max class Dubai born and based Edward Jones was simply the class of the field and his task was made easier by the absence of, potentially, main challenger Shahaan Engineer who jetted off to France for kart testing on Friday after the heats on Friday.
Neverthless Jones found an impressive vein of form and really the question was who could stop him on the day? In the end none of the Juniors had an answer and he powered to a well deserved start to finish victory. Behind him diminutive Syrian Pierre Georges was the best of the rest, managing to cruise to an equally unchallenged second place ahead of Jordan’s Othman Abu Sabra.
Jones said of his win, "It was good to win on my home track. I never thought back on my first day accident and was focused on winning. Halfway through the race I allowed myself to think about the win. I dedicate the win to my father Russell Jones, the rest of my family and mechanic Kieron Knightley."
The final round of the MEKC is scheduled to take place in Sharm Al Sheikh in April.
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