Island Karting Club organise first event of the season

On this day, the IMRC did not promote competitive races but took the opportunity to to provide a testing session for its members where they could set up their Scooters and Motards for the upcoming event on the 2nd June.
The IKC race meeting was kindly sponsored by Queen's Dry Cleaners.
The Island Karting Club and the Island Motorcycle Racing Club are grateful to the Malta Drag Racing Association committee and members for providing access to their facility.
A good turnout was inevitable after such a long wait to re-start racing. The event started with a special guest appearance of Rev. Fr. Gordon Refalo, the Saint Andrew's Parish Priest of Luqa. Fr. Refalo said a short prayer and spoke about the positive value of sports when friends and family members join the competitors in a friendly atmosphere. Fr. Refalo also gave a surprise when he told the story of how his Great grandmother was also a karting driver in Switzerland and how he still cherishes her karting photos. Then, Fr. Refalo blessed those present and their vehicles.
The event started with a drivers briefing and a safety briefing. Official free practice sessions where held and then the official qualifying session for pole position was on. All divers had their first official opportunity of the season to show their skills and lap times in the new temporary facility.
The 10-minute pole position qualifying session had the following result:

ROTAX MAX CLASS
1st Clayton Laus
2nd Joseph Mifsud
3rd Paul Cassar
4th Neville Zammit
5th Aaron Cassar

FUN CLASS
1st James Camilleri
2nd Jurgen Debatista
3rd Vince Farrugia - DNF broken engine
As soon as the qualifying session was over, it was time to go racing. In between different sessions the IMRC members continued to entertain the spectators with their high speed cornering skills on their Scooters and Motards, and the sound of their racing engines.

Heat One
In Heat One an intense race was under way because in addition to a podium finish for the first 3 drivers, the prestigious fastest driver of the day award was on the line.
Both Adrian Cauchi and Claudio Azzopardi sat out for the first race, to ensure that all competitors follow the right procedures.
Claudio Azzopardi, the General Secretary of IKC and the representative and Director of the sponsor - Queen's Dry Cleaners - is also a Rotax karting driver and he was urged to take part in the race, but he declined to do so. As a result the introduction of a pace kart was suggested and Claudio took the drivers around the track for a warm up lap, while race director Adrian Cauchi gave the starting signal.
At the start Aaron Cassar made a good effort and he took the advantage and placed himself into P3 before slightly spinning and losing his position. The first heat was dominated as expected by Clayton Laus, followed by a good battle among Paul Cassar, Neville Zammit and Joseph Mifsud. In close racing Paul Cassar made a mistake and slammed straight into the barriers, damaging his kart and had a first DNF (did not finish). Racing side by side and scraping pods was on the go between Mifsud and Zammit, but Mifsud had the best to finish in P2.
The result of the Rotax Max Heat One were:
1st Clayton Lause
2nd Joseph Mifsud
3rd Neville Zammit
4th Aaron Cassar
5th Paul Cassar DNF
Both Zammit and Mifsud received a warning.
Heat one of the Fun Class was also started as the MAX category with a pace kart as Claudio Azzopardi took the drivers around for the warm up and the race was off.
The race had to be held between two drivers as 3rd pole sitter Vince Farrugia had a broken engine. During this first heat James Camilleri with his 250cc SUPER F1 Kart dominated the race, and 3 laps from the end Jurgen Debatista suffered a failed engine leaving Camilleri to reach the chequered flag with no problems claiming his first race win in his first ever race.

Heat Two
Heat two was under way for the MAX category and tensions began to rise as all drivers still had a chance to stand on the podium and also gain the fastest driver of the day award.
As heat two started it was another great start as the drivers began to get accustomed to the temporary circuit and the lap times started to drop. In the opening lap Zammit made a great move in the Camel humps speed trap to pass Joseph Mifsud. Paul Cassar was also on the verge of attacking Joseph Mifsud, and both drivers were pushing hard to catch up Clayton Laus but were never close enough. As the laps were drawing towards the end, Paul Cassar pushed as hard as he could but another error was inevitable, and he could not slow down in the speed trap leaving him with another DNF.
The race was once again dominated by Clayton Laus but as the track got more grip and the drivers relaxed Neville Zammit clocked the fastest lap of the day in 49.132 seconds.
The results of heat 2 are:
1st Clayton Laus
2nd Neville Zammit
3rd Joseph Mifsud
4th Aaron Cassar
5th Paul Cassar DNF
Heat 2 of the Fun class was straight forward, due to Jurgen Debatista s engine failure James Camilleri was on his own. He did 6 laps as per regulations and the chequered flag was waved, giving him his second win and first overall win of an event.

The final results of the Queens Cup were:
ROTAX MAX
1ST Clayton Laus Intrepid Silverstone
2nd Joseph Mifud,(won 2nd by better pole result than Zammit) Intrepid Cruiser
3rd Neville Zammit Intrepid Cruiser
Fastest Driver of the day, Neville Zammit
Fun Class
1st James Camilleri F1 Super kart
2ND Jurgen Depatista Gold Kart
3RD Vince Farrugia Top Kart
All participants and teams were awarded commemorative medals. The presentation of awards was conducted by Claudio Azzopardi, the director of the sponsor, Queen's Dry Cleaners.