Emirati drivers Al Barwani, Al Dhaheri take top honours in SWS Sprint Series Round Three

Dubai Kartdrome hosts another exciting battle under the floodlights

Dubai, UAE, 23 February, 2016: Emirati drivers Atef Al Barwani and Rashid Al Dhaheri emerged as outright winners in Round 3 of the SWS Sprint races held at the Dubai Kartdrome on Monday night.

Multiple SWS champion Al Barwani sparkled under the Kartdrome floodlights, qualifying second before becoming embroiled in a four-way battle for top honours with pole winner Ahmed Al Hammadi, Rami Azzam and Dubai schoolgirl Abigail Birch.

In the end, Al Barwani took the win by a mere 0.326 of a second over Al Hamamdi and Birch, who turned seventh on the grid to third place when the chequered flag dropped to end the race. Azzam finished fourth with Hussain Umid Ali fifth and Romaldo Labrooy rounding out the top six.

In Race 2, Umid Ali and Labrooy slugged it out for top honours in race two with Umid Ali edging victory by 0.693 of second.

Azzam and Al Barwani chased hard, finishing third and fourth respectively ahead of Maz Nawaz in fifth and Al Hammadi sixth.

When the points were tallied up Al Barwani was the overall winner, with Umid Ali in second and third place going to Al Hammadi.

Al Barwani said, “As usual it was tough out there but I must say it is good to be in form and pull off the win as it kick-starts my 2016 campaign at a good time. It feels good to be back on the top step of the podium.”

In the race-within-a-race SWS Masters Cup, Anjum Shaikh was again unbeatable as he took top honours ahead of second place Piotr Karykowski and Porus Noshir in third.

Earlier in the evening, Abu Dhabi schoolboy Rashid Al Dhaheri qualified in pole position for the SWS Junior Sprint race. 

In Race 1, Jad Charaffudine powered to his first SWS win by two seconds over Al Dhaheri and Seif Al Naggar with Kamal Agha fourth, Danny Shields fifth and Oliver Walton sixth.

Al Dhaheri bounced back to win the second race after a long battle with Danny Shields, the pair crossing the line separated by 0.756 of a second.

Al Naggar was a distant third, ahead of fourth placed Patrick Debattista,  Jakub Fitzsimmons in fifth and Agha sixth.

Round 4 of the 2016 SWS Sprint Series takes place at the Dubai Kartdrome on 14 March.

Official Results on MyLaps: http://www.mylaps.com/en/events/1236986 

Captions:
1.    Barwani: Atef Al Barwani (20) winner of SWS Seniors Sprint Race 1 at the Kartdrome
2.    Dhaheri: Rashid Al Dhaheri (14) winner of the SWS Juniors Sprint Race 2 at the Kartdrome
3.    Junior-podium:  Top three SWS Juniors (L to R) second placed Danny Shields, winner Rashid Al Dhaheri and third placed Seif Al Naggar
4.    Senior-podium: Top three SWS Seniors (L to R) second placed Hussain Umid Ali , winner Atef Al Barwani  and third placed Ahmed Al Hammadi.