The second round of the SWS Karting championship, in Lebanon has ended yesterday after a fabulous family and Motorsport event. The event that was hosted at Pitstop Karting in Zouk saw a completely different ending to the first race after featuring 3 new podium finishers.
Similar to the first round the event featured free practice, Qualification and 3 heats and a final race. The heats were 10 laps long, and the final race featured 15 laps.
The event also saw the presence of Lebanon’s multi rally champion Roger Feghali in Addition to Red bull athlete and former multi Lebanese rally champions Abdo Feghali.
Hobby Max was also present with their usual show. In addition to all these amazing features, a group of Lebanese junior karting champs and hopefully the future of Lebanese motorsports, displayed some driving skills, maneuvers and overtakes in front of the thrilled crowd.
The race:
The 3 heats leading to the final race saw some drama. Both 1st place finisher and 2nd place finisher in round 1 didn’t qualify to the final race. Karim fakhry whow won the first round witnessed some problems in qualifying which led him start at the back of the grid in the first heat. He fought hard and finished short of qualifying. Georges Hajali the man who finished second last time around was leading his heat but a racing incident while fighting to protect his place saw him miss on the final race too.
On the other had eventual race winner and event winner Ralph Matta showed us some brilliant driving by leading his heat and eventually winning both the qualifying and the final race. Ralph, who controlled the race pretty much from half through, went on to build a comfortable lead and clinched a well-deserved victory after a relatively normal display in the first round of the championship. Joey Hajj who also wasn’t up to the level in the first round pulled some amazing skills from his sleeve and went on to win his heat and eventually finish second in the race after a fighting with overall third place finisher Omar Khairallah both in the heat and in the final race. The duo amazed the crowd by some aggressive driving and good sportsmanship. Mohammad Bassbouss who finished 3rd last time, went on to finish 4th this time around showed some solid performance over the course of the day.
Final results:
1- Ralph Matta
2- Joey Hajj
3- Omar Khairallah
4- Mohammed Bassbouss
5- Johnny Mrad
6- Elias Homsi
7- Fouad Hassoun
8- Mohammed Kaissi
9- Elie Youssef
Quotes after the race:
We met the podium finishers after the end of the race and got ask them what were their opinions.
Ralph Matta: the race was great. I am happy with the result for sure. Last race I was afraid a little that’s all; I saw that I can do better. I just practiced twice before the race. I was consistent at the end because I was more confortable. I will be completing the championship for sure.
Joey Hajj: every time we race we get more experience and we improve. I practiced for 3 times ahead of the race. Thank god for the result. I drove quite well and I held my nerves. I will be participating in all remaining rounds and I will do my best.
Omar Khairllah: the race was fun. I was a bit angry in the heat because I had the number 8 Kart and it’s not good. I only practiced yesterday and I will be ready for all the remaining rounds.
Interview with Track Owner Mr. Jean Marc Rizk
This is your second event of the season how do you evaluate it?
We had more spectators, more fans, and more drivers. We need to work a little more on the organization we had some gaps today. We had some hard fighting today and we need to work on that. The whole thing is amazing until now and it’s progressing gradually.
Are you preparing some new thing some new surprises for the fans?
We will keep doing some animation between races, and some features for the fans to enjoy. We will also be working on increasing the number of cars so we can have more drivers.
