The wet weather yesterday could not dampen Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa's impressive form in the latest round of the UAE Rotax Max Challenge at the Dubai Kartdrome.
Sheikh Khalid strengthened his position at the top of the DD2 category, winning the opening heat of the sixth round of the championship, then finishing second behind Ashraf Raza in the Pre-Final.
The points from those races consolidated his position at the top of the DD2 class, but he was unable to gain more by winning the class Final because the race was cancelled. Sean Stevens, the clerk of the course, abandoned the meeting as heavy rain made conditions too treacherous; there had been a number of spins in earlier races before the rainfall intensified over the Dubai track.
Edward Jones and Maurits Knopjes proved again to be the best of the Seniors Class, even when it rains.
The pair slugged it out for top spot in their opening heat, with Jones snatching the win by 0.074 seconds from Knopjes.
Arnaud Bouf was third overall and best of the Max Masters Class which runs together with the Seniors Class.
In the Pre-Final, with the rain coming down hard, Jones and Knopjes were out in front again with Arnaud third when the race was red flagged, bringing proceedings to an end for the day.
Earlier in the day, Piers Pakenham-Walsh won the opening heat of the Junior Max Class from Cyrus Engineer and Patrick Hannah.
In the Pre-Final, Abdullah Al Rawahi bounced back from failing to finish in the heat race to take victory by nearly 20 seconds from Pakenham-Walsh in second and Engineer in third.
In the Cadet Class, Tom Bale won the Heat comfortably but was made to work hard for his win in the Pre-Final when Pascal Pook took the fight to the reigning champion.
They crossed the line with Bale ahead by a mere 0.188secs from Pook, with Alain Bauwmans in third.
The SWS Star Cup attracted a big field, including Mohammed Al Mutawaa, the teenage Cytech UAE GT House of Portier Corvette driver.
The young Emirati was in his element, driving in the wet, and consequently took victory from second placed Ben Case, with Phill Tromans taking third.
Paul Chatenay and Saeed Al Mehairi were the pick of the bunch in the SWS RX250 Master Cup competition, with Chatenay taking victory by less than half a second from Mehairi. Oscar Slawinski was third ahead of Sam Zian, Haytham Ali and Rami Joudi rounding out the top six.
The next round of the season is at the Abu Dhabi Al Forshan facility on February 4.
