Mallia wins his first Autocross

The day’s event started under blue skies but rain showers in the afternoon did not halt the day’s event though the track surface changed to slippery conditions. Most drivers demonstrated their skills of driving over slippery and low track traction to all spectators present.

For another day Patrick Cassar on his Opel Corsa B won all his qualifying heats and the Class A Race Final thus closing the points gap on Christian Galea’s lead in the Championship Scale. Chris Galea on his Fiat Ritmo battled for third place with Philip Vella on another Corsa B. Manuel Muscat on his Opel Corsa took the lead from the Start but after 2 laps lost control on one of the corners and Cassar took the lead to the Finish. Philip Vella on another Opel Nova changed places on a number of times with Christian’s Ritmo while Melo Zammit on a Ford Escort and Josef Grech battled together on the slippery track. Cassar won the race ahead of Galea and Vella respectively.

Jurgen Mallia on his Honda Civic took the lead from the start of his Class B Final. He drove very cautiously yet fast enough to build a gap on his competitors to the finish flag. Mario Scicluna and William Formosa (Ford Fiesta) followed Jurgen for the first few laps when Scicluna lost control and made way for Formosa. Soon, both Formosa and Scicluna lost their place to Ryan Scerri on a Fiesta. Mallia crossed the Finish Line to register his 1st Class B win of the season. He was followed by Scerri on an Opel Corsa and Formosa on his Ford Fiesta 1400cc respectively.

The Autocross Gozo drivers also demonstrated their skills at the ASM Ta Qali soil. Dominic Zammit won all the 3 Heats on  his Alfa Sud which performs excellently on a very slippery surface. Marvic Vassallo on a Ford Escort and Joseph Vella on a Ford Fiesta followed in 2nd and 3rd places. ASM appreciates these Gozo riders who cross the Maltese channel to demonstrate their skills in Autocross racing in Malta.

Class A Motocross racing was very much battled between Clayton Camilleri, Carmel Borg, Paul Muscat and Stefan Dimech who won 2 of the 3 heats each lasting for 17 minutes of competitive pressure in MX racing. Stefan won two Heats, a 2nd place and 72 points on his Honda CRF 250cc.  Borg changed his Suzuki to a friends Kawasaki due to a technical last minute problem. Borg won one race heat and a 3rd and a 4th place. Yet he won 63 points to win 2nd place on the day with a single point ahead of Clayton Camilleri’s 62 points on his KTM. Clayton too suffered a couple of falls which cost him valuable race points and positions. Paul Muscat finished in 4th place overall.

Motocross Class B was very well battled between Trevor Muscat (KTM) and Brandon Cassar on his Yamaha YZ. Trevor won 2 Heats, Cassar won one Heat and Gozo rider Joseph Bigeni won three 3rd places. These heats were very competitive most of the time though track conditions changed due to slight showers on the track.

The ASM Race Calendar shows that the Trials riders will be competing their 3rd Championship event next Sunday 20th January 2013. First Section starts at 9.00am. Racing lasts till about 13.00 hours.