During two rounds scheduled for July more than 30 drivers from 9 countries (seniors and juniors) will compete for the champion title of MEKC 2009. Winners of this championship will be able to join World Finals of Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF) to be organized at Ghibli Raceway International Karting track from 5th till 12th December, 2009.

The upcoming Round 2 of MEKC 2009 will take place at Ghibli Raceway International Karting track in Sharm El Sheikh from 2^nd till 4^th of July and Round 3 (final round organized as night race) will be from 9^th till 11^th of July. Best of karting race drivers from Middle East and European countries are ready to compete for the MEKC 2009 champion title. According to the regulations of the championship, the best points from two best rounds out of three are to be counted for the overall results of the championship. In such a way, those who missed Round 1 still have a chance to bring good results in Round 2 and 3 in order to win the championship, which have been scheduled as follows:

Round	Date	Track	Location
1st	Dec 11-13, 2008	Ghibli Raceway International Karting track	Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
2nd	July 2-4, 2009	Ghibli Raceway International Karting track	Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
3rd	July 9-11, 2009	Ghibli Raceway International Karting track	Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

More than 30 drivers from 9 countries will participate in Round 2 and 3 of MEKC 2009, including Lybia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Lebanon, Cyprus, Italy, Great Britain and Egypt. Final two rounds of MEKC 2009 championship will include the best karting champions, such as Chant Etyemezian from Lebanon, Nicos Demetriou from Cyprus, Ahmed Sukhtian from Jordan, Edward Jones and Maurits Knopjes from UAE, Hassan Soufrakis and Salah El Din Tatanaki from Lybia, and Ahmed Ghanem and Tarek Khedr from Egypt. These champions have very good potential to assure the success and international level of MEKC 2009, which slogan is "Inspiring Future Champions". By the nearest future it is expected that MEKC championship will be one of the most recognizable international karting championships around the world.

Preparation for the second and final rounds of MEKC 2009 required several international shipments, which at the moment exceeds more than seven international shipments containing karts, spare parts and required tools of the participating drivers. Large shipment of Ghibli Raceway has been imported recently for the new karts and new tires for the championship after the new regulations created by FIA-CIK to identify new specifications for karts in case of safety and required equipments. Those new karts according to the latest regulations will be used in MEKC for the first time at Ghibli Raceway International Karting track and the whole Middle East area.

The final round of the championship will be night race, which is for the first time in karting sport in Middle East. Earlier official night races have been organized in Moto GP at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar in 2007 and in Formula 1 race in Singapore in 2008. Except the professional drivers from nine countries, the final round of MEKC 2009 will host many celebrities and famous sport stars (both Egyptian and Arab), especially at the final day of the championship when the winner of MEKC 2009 will be announced. The official Gala Dinner of the championship organized on July 12, 2009 at Sofitel Hotel will finalize all the karting activities of the season with announcement of the plans for the future concerning MEKC 2010 championship. The Gala Dinner will be a good chance to honor all the winners of the event in addition to federations and sponsors who provided their support of MEKC 2009 championship, especially Tropicana Hotels & Resorts Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Air as the official carrier of the championship, official representatives of ATCE and EFMS, the Governorate of South Sinai, Egyptian Tourism Ministry, Egyptian Tourism Authority, and all other sponsors and media representatives.

Round 1 of MEKC 2009 championship organized in December 2008 in Sharm El-Sheikh included 14 senior drivers and 6 junior drivers. One of the main pleasant surprises of the championship was participation of the Palestinian team and Saudi Arabia team presented by Prince Faisal Al Saud. The Egyptian and Libyan teams showed the top driving results during the first round, where Egyptian driver Tarek Khedr (senior category) achieved the second place behind Italian driver Piero de Marchi while Egyptian driver Ahmed Ghanem achieved the third place. As for Juniors, Libyan driver Hassan Soufrakis achieved the first place during Round 1 followed by Syrian driver Yazan Hamadah and Libyan driver Salah El Din Tatanaki accordingly.

For the first time worldwide Ghibli Raceway International organized the Final Round of Middle East Karting Cup 2009 as the night race. Ghibli Raceway already finalized its preparation for MEKC 2009, which is going to be organized as the night race from 9th till 11th of July, 2009. An official committee of FIA-CIK headed by Dr. Frans Schreiner is expected to visit Ghibli Raceway track ten days before the event to check all the preparation works for the night race. "We are very happy to observe such preparation at the FIA-CIK approved track as we are going to see for the first time worldwide FIA-CIK karting night race and we are very proud of it. Earlier we saw official night races in Moto GP at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar in 2007 and in Formula 1 race in Singapore in 2008.

Hany Soufrakis, Chairman of Ghibli Raceway, said: "We wanted to organize the final race of MEKC 2009 championship as the night race to assure the international level and image of Ghibli Raceway International Karting Track, which has been opened for drivers since 2000. In 2004 Ghibli Raceway track hosted the World Finals of ROTAX Max Challenge Grand Finals (RMCGF), which we are going to organize again on its 10th anniversary by the end of this year. In addition, organizing the night race of MEKC 2009 will support the tourists' attendance from Sharm El Sheikh, assure the high entertainment for the fans of the karting sport and make new challenges for the participating drivers to win the championship.

Except the professional drivers from nine countries, the final round of MEKC 2009 will host many celebrities and famous sport stars (both Egyptian and Arab), especially at the final day of the championship when the winner of MEKC 2009 will be announced. The official Gala Dinner of the championship organized on July 12, 2009 at Sofitel Hotel will finalize all the karting activities of the season with announcement of the plans for the future concerning MEKC 2010 championship. The Gala Dinner will be a good chance to honor all the winners of the event in addition to federations and sponsors who provided their support of MEKC 2009 championship, especially Tropicana Hotels & Resorts Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Air as the official carrier of the championship, official representatives of ATCE and EFMS, the Governorate of South Sinai, Egyptian Tourism Ministry, Egyptian Tourism Authority, and all other sponsors and media representatives.

The Organizing Committee of Middle East Karting Cup 2009 (MEKC '09) recently agreed  that due to management circumstances and also for the economic changes which affecting the global business and all sectors of industry, tourism and sports as well, it was decided to organize the second and third rounds of the Middle East Karting Cup 2009 on Ghibli Raceway International Karting track in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt - where it was planned for the two rounds to be organized in the United Arab Emirates, specifically on the Kartdrome Karting circuit – at Dubai Autodrorme) during the month of March 2009 - and thus it was decided to postpone the two rounds to July 2009 as following:

 

Round	Date	Circuit	City	Country
1st	11-13 DEC 08	Ghibli Raceway International Karting Track	Sharm el-Sheikh	Egypt
2nd	02-04 JUL  09	Ghibli Raceway International Karting Track	Sharm el-Sheikh	Egypt
3rd	09-11 JUL  09	Ghibli Raceway International Karting Track	Sharm el-Sheikh	Egypt

It was known that the (MEKC '09) is the only international karting championship in the Middle East, which comes approved by International Federation of Motor Sport (FIA) and the International Federation of Karting (CIK), in addition to support from the Automobile and Touring Club of Egypt (ATCE) and the Egyptian Federation for Motor Sport (EFMS), as well as by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and the Egyptian Authority of tourism.

The first round of the championship, which has been in Sharm El-Sheikh during the month of December last year had witnessed participation of 14 (Seniors) drivers, and 6 (Juniors) drivers, however, that the participation of the Palestinian Team for the first time had been one of the most pleasant surprises of the championship, which is the for the participation of the Saudi team, presented by Prince / Faisal Al Saud.

On the other hand, the Egyptian / Libyan team appeared with top driving scales  during the first round, in which the Egyptian Driver / Tarek Khedr within the category of (Seniors) to achieve the second place behind Italian piero de Marchi, while Egyptian / Ahmed Ghanem to achieve the third place.
As for the (Juniors), Libyan Driver / Hassan Soufrakis achieve first place in the first round followed by a second, the Syrian / Yazan Hamadah weighing and behind them in the third place the Libyan driver / Salahelddin Tatanaki.

The second and third rounds for the first time globally organized as night races in Ghibli Raceway, as well as organizing a charity race for great group of Arab and Egyptian celebrities.

After a great competition between 14 senior drivers and 6 Junior drivers going for three days of the opening round of the Middle East Karting Cup 2009 championship held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt at Ghibli Raceway international karting circuit.  Italian Senior Driver, Piero De Marchi won the senior category after a tough competition with the Egyptian fox, Tarek Khedr, while Libyan Junior driver, Hassan Soufrakis won in his category after a valiant effort from Yazan Hamadeh of Syria.  It was a fantastic effort to achieve this result and although disappointed that he'd let the title slip away he had came so close to winning, the Egyptian driver Tarek Khedr admitted that he totally enjoyed the tough clean racing over the weekend with Piero.

On race day of the opening round of the Middle East Karting Cup, Ghibil Raceway International Circuit dawned bright with a cool, crisp feeling in the air. Everywhere around the paddock, the low murmur of voices  were heard as the teams quietly set about the day’s preparations. One could easily sense the energy of what was about to take place, for this was the most serious of days at the opening round.  The morning track action started with the Junior warm up to be followed by the Senior class. For most drivers it was a time to do last minute checks and make adjustments to settings. However, there were still many drivers making wholesale changes to their karts in an apparent way to find more speed. While a few drivers we talked to said their kart was fine, they just wanted to take a few laps to burn off some nervous energy.

The Junior Pre-Final got underway exactly on time and featured what is arguably the most talented field of young drivers in MEKC 2009. In the 20-lap race none of the leaders ever had a safe margin to second place. And at the checkered flag, the top three were covered by less than a second. In the end it ended as expected with Hassan Soufrakis came in a strong first position followed with Yazan Hamadeh and Dino Tatanaki respectively.

At the beginning of the seniors pre-final Tarek and Peiro were competing hard in a race of their own with each lap having its own story, behind them were former Egyptian champion Ahmed Ghanem Zidan followed by Mauro Paterni and Mohamed Medhat. This battle for top position ended with Piero coming in first followed by Tarek in second position and Ghanem coming in third position.

Between the Pre-Final and the Final is a chance for all drivers at the event, those still in competition and those out, to don their driving suits and make way onto the front straightaway for the drivers parade. This is one of the biggest moments of the weekend as it creates a very colorful spectacle. After the festivities of the driver’s parade were over, it was time to get down to what everyone had anticipated all week, the Finals.

In the 20 lap Juniors final race, Libyan Hassan Soufrakis claimed the title of the first round improving himself since the first day of the championships scoring a time of 1:03.556 min. followed by the Syrian Junior, Yazan Hamadah with a Time of 1:03.639 min. for the best lap time, and Libyan Dino Tatanaki in third position.

In the Seniors Final race, it was again all about the two round contenders with Piero De Marchi in pole followed by Tarek Khedr on his tail leading the pack of 14 karts into turn one.  For the next 24 laps, we were treated to one of the best 2-kart races for the lead we’ve ever seen.  Nobody had enough fingers and toes to count all the passes among the top two.  It ended with Italian Piero De Marchi winning the title of the first round of the championship after fierce competition with Egyptian Tarek Khedr, who lost his leading position in the last two laps, achieving the best lap time of 1:01.984 min. while Tarek best time was 1:02.077 min., third-place went to former Egyptian master driver Ahmed Ghanem Zidan with a best lap time 1:03.168 min whom was loosing ground to the impressive sole female racer of the round, Wary Tatanaki whom was only slightly off the pace of the Piero & Tarek with a best lap of 1:02.788.  A racing incident occurred whilst she tried to overtake Ghanem meant she was out of the race at turn 3 at half race distance.

As per championship tradition, a post round press conference took place at the Grand Azure Hotel of Tropicana Hotels and Resorts Group, the main sponsor of the championship was attended by representatives & officials whom supported of the Championship (Egyptian Automobile and Touring Club, the Egyptian Federation of Motor Sports, the Egyptian Tourism Authority and of course, the organizer of the event Ghibli Raceway), As well as the presence of all the contestants and winners of the Round and also representatives of the sponsoring companies.

Everyone spoke about their happiness of the results of the championship and about their hopes for the coming rounds, while members of Egyptian & Libyan National Karting Team and their manager – Engineer. Zeyad Abu Eita spoke with gratitude about Ghibli Raceway's support for the generous sponsorship and effective organization of the round overall.  Zeyad also commented about the future prospects for the team which has now become an effective force in the championship and are now expected to dominate the 2009 championship.  This dramatic performance increase and professional approach was noted by all including the championship series Clerk of Course, Rod Taylor, whom noted that the top juniors were now approaching the standard of top European kart drivers.

It is hard to describe in words what it was like to be at the Middle East Karting Cup.  I would recommend to anyone involved in motorsport that, if they get the chance, go to a Middle East Karting Cup round.  Piero De Marchi, the champion of the opening round stated “there may be bigger racing events, but the specific nature of this glamorous up and coming CIK-FIA sanctioned event, the driver's pride in representing their country and the great racing, superb circuits and entertainment make this the best motor racing event we have attended.  For our local Rotax drivers, keep working at it and you too could be one of the lucky ones to make it to the Rotax World finals one day through the Middle East.”

Hany Soufrakis expressed his hopes for the coming rounds of MEKC 2009 championship in increasing the number of participating countries confirmed to attend the 2nd and 3rd rounds in United Arab of Emirates next March 2009, particularly with drivers from the UAE, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, as well as from European countries namely Austria & the United Kingdom.

He also thanked all the authorities & sponsors of the championship whom helped make the event happen led by Tropicana Hotels and Resorts which hosted the championship participants, guests, drivers and representatives of the organization committee. Additionally, of special note was Egypt Air, the official carrier of the championship as well as by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and the Egyptian Tourism Authority.

Congratulations to Tarek Sukhtian who once again placed himself on top of the podium for the finals of the Jordan Karting Championship to be the No. 1 for 2006, 2007 and 2008! Mohammad Bustami came in 2nd place with equal points with the champion! But the title goes for Sukhtian as he had better positions during the season.

During the race, Ahmad Sukhtian was in pole position and led the pre final race till the end. Tarek Sukhtian had some problems and wasn’t as fast as expected for the finals. Mohammad Bustami had a very bad start where Sanad Shannak had a better one and placed himself 3rd for the half of the race, but Bustami managed to gain his position again.

In the final race, Sukhtian brother were leading and Sanad once again had a good start and placed himself 3rd. Bustami had a bad start again, but this time he was passed by all the drivers.  During the race Bustami was the fastest and went up again to 3rd position. He needed one more point only to be the youngest driver to win the Jordan Karting Championship!

1st : Tarek Sukhtian 2nd : Mohammad Bustami 3rd : Mohammad Bustami 4th : Sanad Shannak

Pole Position : Ahmad Sukhtian Fastest Lap : Mohammad Bustami

 

 

Overall Championship Standings

Pos Driver Total Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 1 T. SUKHTIAN 57 12 12 6 12 15 2 M. BUSTAMI 56 10 9 12 15 10 3 A. SUKHTIAN 49 9 10 10 8 12 4 M. ABDEEN 20 5 6 - 9 - 5 F. ABDELHADI 18 - - 9   9 6 M. DAJANI 16 0 8 8 - - 7 F. BUSTAMI 13 8 5 - - - 8 S. SHANNAK 10 0 0 - 10 - 9 S. ABDELHADI 7 - 7 - - - 10 A. MALAS 7 7 - - 0 - 11 N. HADDAD 7 - - 7   - 12 I. BUSTAMI 6 6 - - - - 13 L. HADIDI 0 0 0 - - - 14 O. ABU SAMRA 0 - - - 0 - 15

 

The Jordanian driver Sanad Shannak has launched his new website, www.sanadshannak.com the site will be updated frequently with the Bank of Jordan Karting Team news and pictures that will be also be available for download.

 

Very bad weather during the week and heavy showers forced the drivers to do all the track work only the day before the race when the track dried up. The track was so slippery and all drivers were slower than the average.

Top three drivers are fighting for the championship lead with one point only between each of them.  Mohammad Bustami, Ahmad Sukhtian and Tarek Sukhtian, all desperately need the first position 12 points to take the lead.

Championship current leader and Ramadan Champion, Bustami was fastest in the qualifying sessions and placed himself in pole position ahead of Sukhtian brothers, Anwar Malas, Sanad Shannak, Othman Abu Samra and Mohammad Abdeen.

On the start of the pre-final race, Bustami easily maintained his position and flew to widen the gap. The 2007 champion, Tarek Sukhtian, overtook his brother on the first turn of the race, but Ahmad was faster and regained his 2nd place on the 6th lap and started to widen the gap as well.

Anwar Malas faced technical problems and had to leave the race. Othman Abu Samra was racing for the first time on the ICA engine and on the RACJ circuit, was fighting for 4th place with Sanad Shannak who was defending his position. Abdeen did not start in the pre-final because of technical problems.

After the pre-final race, Tarek Sukhtian says “Yesterday I was much faster, the kart is not handling well and I am not being able to push to the maximum.” 

On the final race, Mohammad again maintained his first place and won the race to extend his championship lead! But this time with much more pressure from Tarek Sukhtian with two attempts to take over the lead. Ahmad Sukhtian spun on turn two and lost 3 laps before he restarted!

Malas mounted his spare engine, but again faced a technical problem and forced him to leave the race. Abu Samra put much more pressure on Shannak this time and tried to overtake him but he spun off.
Race winner and championship leader Mohammad Bustami said “It was a great race! Everything was running perfect! Many thanks to my sponsors Jordan Karting and Makaseb. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Hamza Dirani and Emile Azar for the great support!”

Faisal Bustami and Mahmoud Dajani were not able to take part in this race as they have travelled for university. 

 

Overall race results:
Mohammad Bustami                      Jordan Karting / Makaseb
Tarek Sukhtian                                  Bank of Jordan
Sanad Shannak                                Bank of Jordan
Mohammad Abdeen
Ahmad Sukhtian                  Bank of Jordan

 

	Overall Championship Standings
Pos	Driver	Total	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5
1	M. BUSTAMI	43	10	9	12	12
2	T. SUKHTIAN	40	12	12	6	10
3	A. SUKHTIAN	37	9	10	10	8
4	M. ABDEEN	20	5	6	-	9
5	M. DAJANI	16	0	8	8	-
6	F. BUSTAMI	13	8	5	-	-
7	S. SHANNAK	10	0	0	-	10
8	F. ABDELHADI	9	-	-	9
9	S. ABDELHADI	7	-	7	-	-
10	A. MALAS	7	7	-	-	0
11	N. HADDAD	7	-	-	7
12	I. BUSTAMI	6	6	-	-	-
13	L. HADIDI	0	0	0	-	-
14	O. ABU SAMRA	0	-	-	-	0
15

 

Karaz Photos has now launched its new website that aims to cover all motorsports events in Jordan through high quality digital photos. On the website you can search photos by events, drivers and cars. Karaz Photos was created by Hasan Dirani, a young photographer (18 Years old).

Click here to visit the website.

www.karazphotos.com

The final round and the most exciting was held at the Jordan Speed Center. The results were changing all the time and no one could tell who the winner was before the end of the race.  The pre-final race started with Mohammad Bustami who was in pole position leading the field followed by the championship leader Mahmoud Marabeh, Saif Abdelhadi 3rd and his younger brother 4th.  Marabeh spun on the first turn and dropped to last, but managed to restart and compete again.

Hot battle for the 2nd place was between Saif Abdelhadi, Faisal Bustami and Faisal Abdelhadi. The three drivers were so close with less than a second between them all.  Faisal Bustami’s kart flipped and he had to leave the competition on the 9th lap.

Mohammad Bustami who was fastest in the official testing led the race and flew to widen the gap with no competition around. Marabeh, sponsored by Al Nahda Press, was able to overtake many drivers and finished in 5th place behind the promising driver Hashem Tabbaa who showed big improvement during the Ramadan Challenge.  Ahmad Sukhtian’s car stopped at the beginning of the race, but he also managed to restart, but finished last.

Pre-final race results:

Mohammad Bustami, Saif Abdelhadi, Faisal Abdelhadi, Hashem Tabbaa, Mahmoud Marabeh, Anwar Hamdan, Nabih Muammar, Izz Bustami, Abdullah Bustami, Othman Abu Samra, Omar Bustami, Ahmad Sukhtian.

Final Round:

The final round starting grid was according to the pre-final results. Mohamamd Bustami kept his first place, but this time with a very high competition behind. Saif Abdelhadi, Faisal Abdelhadi and Mahmoud Maraba were all on Mohammad’s tail. Top four drivers were so close, so fast, they all break the record of the track!

Anwar Hamdan lost control and spun, but he managed to restart and follow the drivers ahead.
On the 9th lap, M Bustami started to widen the gap slightly, because the level of competition was very high and driver wouldn’t leave him alone! Ahmad Sukhtian did a good job overtaking the drivers to reach Abdullah Bustami and fight with him for more than 6 laps for the 5th place.
On lap 17 – out of 25 – drivers leading the race started to overlap the slower drivers. 3 laps before the end of the race, Faisal Abdelhadi had to leave the race because his rear protection went off. Mahmoud Marabeh has set the fastest lap and broke the track record (35:682).

Final Results:

Mohammad Bustami, Mahmoud Marabeh, Said Abdelhadi, Faisal Bustami, Ahmad Sukhtian, Abdullah Bustami, Anwar Hamdan, Izz Bustami, Haitham Quqa, Othman Abu Samra, Omar Barakat, Omar Bustami.

Juniors Race:

Hamza Bustami was fastest in the qualifying session, followed by the first round winner Omar Bdour, Nafe Jarrar in 3rd place and Terry Farah 4th.
Juniors’ race was delayed because it started to rain. But when the ten laps race started, Hamza Bustami maintained his first position and flew to win the race. 2nd place was for Omar Bdoor, Nafe Jarrar 3rd and Tery Farah last.

At the end of the race, the rally champion, Maarouf Abu Samra, gave the winner the trophies and prizes. Prizes for top 5 winners were presented by Bridgestone Tires, Liqui Moly oils and Jordan Speed Center.

 Final Results for Ramadan Challenge after 3 races:

Mohammad Bustami was crowned champion for the 2008 Ramadan Karting Challenge after strong competition with Mahmoud Marabeh who proved himself. In the 3rd place came the 2007 Ramadan Champion, Faisal Bustami.

The juniors champion was Hamza Bustami, the younger brother of the seniors’ champion! In 2nd place was Omar Bdour and Nafe Jarrar 3rd.