Archive - Xtreme Autocross Championship 2012 - Round 3

KARACHI, May 14: The third round of the 2012 Xtreme Autocross Championship was held at Clifton's Fountain Parking lot here recently, with champion drivers Shamyl Khuhro and Imam Ali Shah hogging the limelight with their superb driving stints in front of an appreciative crowd.

Xtreme Motorsports race director Mansoor Halim, who designed the track, held the drivers' briefing at 8:30pm, after which the 3rd round of Xtreme Autocross Championship 2012 was flagged off. The usual running order was repeated, with the Ladies category starting the autocross, followed by Novice, Stock, and then the Prepared categories.

The Ladies category was won by Fizza Anvarali, who once again excelled in her Honda City to finish top. It was followed by the Novice category, which was won by Sardar Hassan Sadiq, who drove his Toyota MR-S with a lot of skill and flair.

The championship battle was intense at every point, starting with D-Stock, which saw Amir Ali Shah taking the category, followed by Uzair Habib and Yar Mohammad Sheikh for second and third place. Uzair Habib, with three consecutive positions, is now leading the category by 21 points.

The C-Stock category had as many as seven drivers battling for supremacy. But Ayub Khuhro, in a league of his own, drove sensationally well to beat the usual category winner Ghazanfar Agha, who finished second, followed by Omer Khuhro. However, Ghazanfar is still leading this category for the championship with 27 points.

The B-Stock category, at one point, appeared like a cakewalk for Asif Imam, till out of nowhere came the D-Stock champion Jam Kamal in his new RX8 to win the category. Asif tried very hard till the last lap, but Jam Kamal held his nerve to take the first position. The third position went to Mohammad Raheel, who is getting better with every round. Asif Imam leads this category with 27 points.

The A-Stock category saw Omer Somroo easily winning the category, with Sufian Zahid taking the second position. Omer Somroo missed Round 2, otherwise he has won the last two races in this category. The Evo 9 is proving tough for Sufian Zahid, who is still leading the category with 27 points.

As for the C-Prepared category, three-time Xtreme Autocross champion Imam Ali Shah again established his credentials by beating Saleem Tabani with ease in his own car, and with that also taking the category. Imam improved with each lap as rivals had no answer to his mastery on the track on the night.

The second position was taken by Saleem Tabani, followed by the young driver Khawaja Shayan. With Imam's victory, the championship battle is now at a unique stage, with these three drivers tied on 17 championship points each.

The B-Prepared category saw Toyota MR-S take on Mazda RX8. The Toyota MR-S driven by Mukesh Chawla has been struggling against the RX8s of Samir Feroze and Zaheer Hussain Shah. This time it was Zaheer's RX8 which was half a second too fast, taking the first spot from Mukesh.

Zaheer pulled one immaculate lap in his second run, which had other drivers gasping for breath. Mukesh took the second position on his last run, while Samir Feroze had to settle for third. Zaheer Hussain Shah and Mukesh Chawla are tied on the championship points table with 22 points.

And then came the contest of the day — the A-Prepared category, also known as the heavyweight category. Karachiites from all over the metropolis thronged the venue for this exciting contest, which featured many top drivers. True to its billing, the A-category proved a grand race that saw wizard-on-wheels Shamyl Khuhro coming out a winner on his last lap, besides registering the fastest time of the day.

Shamyl was absolutely fabulous on the night and literally unstoppable as he cruised past big names like Nadir Magsi and Asad Khuhro to have the packed crowd in raptures. Nadir had car problems right after his first lap and could not complete the race — his first lap time, though, was leading the category until Shamyl Khuhro's final lap settled the issue. Asad also suffered a car problem in the middle of the race but tried his level best in the last lap to make up for it, to no avail. Asad took third place but is still leading this category with 25 points, while Shamyl, who has now made a strong comeback, has spiced up the battle with 24 championship points.

The fourth round of the championship is scheduled for May 26.