Archie Sampson wins the night in the Junior LR4 Cup

Dubai, UAE,10 May 2016:  An evening of close competition produced a sizzling round six of the SWS Sprint Series at the Dubai Kartdrome on Sunday.  

In the end Archie Sampson took top honours in the Junior LR4 Cup, while Rami Azzam triumphed in two out of two races to win the RX7 Senior category and Anjum Shaikh amassed enough points to win the RX7 Master Cup category.

The evening kicked off with Junior LR4 Cup qualifying and Kamal Agha set the bar with a best lap of 1:25.901, earning him pole position.  The task ahead would not be easy for Kamal as six other drivers qualified within a second of his time.  

When the green flag waved for Race One the field was compact and battles developed all throughout a tight mass of karts vying for position.  Kamal eventually broke free of the pack and sailed home, a solid 6.583 seconds ahead of his nearest rival Archie Sampson.

Race Two of the Junior category again had a scrappy field, but this time Archie was the driver to claw his way out of the pack and into clean air, crossing the finish line an impressive 10.174 seconds ahead of the group.  Luis Velasco was next across the line, having fought his way through the grid from seventh to second.

When the points of the two races were tallied for the Junior LR4 Cup, Archie Sampson stood on the top step of the podium, with Kamal Agha in second place and Luis Velasco in third.

The SWS RX7 sprint races rounded out the night, with a combined grid of 31 drivers from the Senior and Master Cup categories.  Early on it was Emirati driver Atef Al Barwani who was the man to beat; the 2015 Ramadan Challenge Champion set a mark of 1:12.214 to take pole position.  The competition would be fierce as seven other drivers qualified less than a second off of the pace of his best time.

As qualification suggested, the first race was a ferocious tussle, as Atef had to defend his position against Rami Azzam, Romaldo Labrooy and Ahmed Alhammadi.  At the chequered flag it was Azzam who narrowly took the win, a mere 0.109 seconds ahead of Labrooy.  

Most of the intensity appeared to be used up in the first race, as Race Two turned out to be easy going in comparison. Rami Azzam handily controlled the contest and drifted home 2.33 seconds ahead of Atef Al Barwani in second.

With the points calculated, Rami Azzam took top honours for RX7 Senior, with Atef Al Barwani in second place and Romaldo Labrooy in third.

For the RX7 Master Cup category, Anjum Shaikh was the winner on the night, with Ziad Merhi taking second and Jeremy Corbineau in third.

Dubai Kartdrome Assistant Manager David Bright said, “It was rewarding to see that despite the recent spike in temperature it didn’t put off the participants from entering, as we witnessed a full grid in both Juniors and Seniors.

“It was a fantastic night of racing, particularly the second Junior race where P3 to P10 all crossed line within a tenth of a second.  The Seniors were, as always, ultra-competitive along with talented drivers Callum Mitchell entering from Oman and James Brown from the UK.”