Archive - Xtreme Autocross Championship 2012 - Round 4

KARACHI, May 31: Shamyl Khuhro, the race wizard, continued his great form in Round 4 of the Xtreme Autocross Championship when he sizzled on the tarmac to record the fastest lap of the day, in just 51.84 seconds, in his stylish twin-turbo RX-8.

Shamyl, who had so enthralled the Karachiites in Round 3 early this month by outpacing champion drivers like Nadir Magsi and Asad Khuhro, once again displayed his unquestioned mastery on the wheels in front of a packed house to clinch the A-Prepared category race.

Round 4 was held at the Fountain Parking lot, Clifton, Karachi, once again on a challenging track designed by Mansoor Halim, who is the race director for this season at Xtreme Motorsports.

Mansoor held the drivers' briefing at 8:30pm, after which Xtreme Autocross Championship 2012 Round 4 was flagged off.

Fizza Anvarali, who is fast becoming a favourite for the Ladies category, was once again in excellent form, driving her Honda City to perfection and finishing the race at the top.

Ammara was not far behind and finished second, while Natasha Iqbal ended up third. The race was followed by the Novice category, which was won by Sardar Hassan Sadiq driving a Toyota MR-S, followed by Shamrez Farhatain and Sanaan Jamali.

The D-Stock category saw Amir Ali Shah once again driving like a man possessed, totally focused on the championship despite making a late entry. Amir was absolutely fabulous in his shimmering Mercedes and was a class apart on the night, leading the category from the first run through to the fifth.

The battle for the second and third spot in D-Stock was very intense, but Uzair Habib edged past Faraz Sherwani by one-tenth of a second to once again take second place. Faraz, driving his Honda Accord, took the third position. Uzair Habib leads this category with 28 points.

The C-Stock category saw back-to-back wins by smooth rider Ayub Khuhro. By virtue of this win, Ayub has opened up the competition in the C-Stock championship. Ghazanfar Agha took second place but leads this category with 34 points.

The B-Stock category, which was dominated by Asif Imam in the early rounds, has now been scooped up by the talented Jam Kamal, who has picked up some valuable points in recent rounds.

True to his recent form, Jam, in his lucky new RX-8, drove with incredible control to take the category from Asif, who again had to settle for second place, while Murtaza took third. Asif Imam, however, leads this category with 34 points.

The A-Stock category's crowd favourite, the Evo 9 driven by Omer Somroo, again proved too strong for Sufian Zahid's Evo 8. Omer seems to be getting better with this car and has improved his handling of the Evo 9's power more comfortably. Sufian, though, still leads this category with 31 points, followed closely by Omer Somroo on 30 points.

In the C-Prepared category, the stage was set for a head-on battle between Saleem Tabani and Imam Ali Shah, both driving Honda Civics.

But Imam's choice of an automatic edition proved too costly, as he could not even make it to the podium.

Saleem Tabani, driving brilliantly, was miles ahead of his rivals, where there was a surprise performance from veteran philanthropist Sarfaraz Dhanji driving his Honda Beat. The young Khawaja Shayan took third place. With this victory, Saleem Tabani is comfortably leading this category on 27 points.

As for the B-Prepared category, it was a close, intense competition with the top three podium finishers all riding the same 55-second bracket, separated by mere fractions of a second. Zaheer's luck favoured him in the end, and he took first place, closely followed by Samir Feroze and Mukesh Chawla. Zaheer now leads this category with 32 points.

The A-Prepared category, by all standards the heavyweight category of this championship, saw a fierce battle between ace driver Shamyl Khuhro and dashing Asad Khuhro.

A brilliant Shamyl was on attack from the word go, keeping the pressure on Asad by posting the fastest times of the day. Asad, a driver of superb skill, came very close in his fourth run but was still half a second short of Shamyl's time and had to settle for second place.

Ahsan Rasheed, who has been improving in his Prepared Evo 8 with every round and was within striking distance of the top drivers during the race, took third place. The championship battle has now swung in Shamyl's favour, with his 34 points to Asad's 32.

The fifth round of Xtreme Autocross Championship 2012 is scheduled for September 1, 2012, and its website can be consulted for the results and points table.