Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/635436
22 maltatoday, Wednesday, 3 February 2016 Sport motorsports football Rodney Buttigieg is the BOV GFA Player of the Month for December 2015 Xewkija Tigers forward Rodney Buttigieg is the BOV GFa Player of the Month for De- cember 2015 This is the first individual award for Rod- ney who started his career with Xewkija, where he returned at the start of this football season. During December, Rodney stood out in his team's three matches from three different competitions. He scored a hat-trick in Xewk- ija's 6-3 victory over St Lawrence Spurs in the BOV GFa Cup and scored a spectacular goal against Sk Victoria wanderers in the knock- out Competition. He also shone in Xewkija's President's Cup match against BOV Premier League Champions Hibernians. The young attacker is instrumental in Xewkija's ranks who are seeking their third consecutive GFa League title and his goals have repeatedly helped Xewkija overcome difficult situations. Horace Laudi, Bank of Valletta's Regional Manager for Gozo presented the BOV GFa Player of the Month trophy to Buttigieg dur- ing one of Xewkija's training sessions in front of his team mates and coach alex Simoncic. The player chose the arka Foundation to benefit from the donation associated with this award. Horace Laudi, Bank of Valletta's Regional Manager for Gozo presented the BOV GFA Player of the Month trophy to Buttigieg during one of Xewkija's training sessions in front of his team mates and coach Alex Simoncic muscat brothers dominate motocross & Galea wins in autocross On Sunday 31st january 2016 'assoċjazzjoni Sport Muturi u karozzi ' organized the sixth program with the autocross and second race of the Motocross aSMk Pasta Poiatti 2015/2016 national Championships. Dur- ing this busy day 46 competitors registered to race in the motor- cycles or cars races. a look at the day's autocross races which were divided in two classes. in the Modified 'auto- cross Class' we have seen jean- Paul Grech on his Peugeot 106, Gordon johnson on an Opel Corsa and Godfrey Gauci on his Ford Fiesta dominating the Heats by registering two wins from three races thus sealing their place in the Class a final. Mark Christian Galea on his Fiat RiTMO, josef Grech on a Ford Fiesta and josef abela on his Opel nova also raced in Class a. Right from the start Galea took the lead ahead of both Grech brothers. The spotlight has fall- en on the fourth and fifth places occupied by Gauci and johnson where the latter was making pressure on Gauci until he was forced to retire due to mechani- cal failure in a front wheel. The race went on to the 9th Lap where Galea won this Class a final. Grech brothers jean Paul and josef finished in second and third places while abela and johnson finished the race in the fourth and fifth places. The qualified Class B drivers were kieth and Matthew Borg both on a Vauxhall nova, jurgen Mallia on Honda Civic, Guzi Pace on a Ford escort, joseph Micallef and jonathan Camilleri both on a Opel Corsa. From the Start of this final we saw a good launch by Micallef followed by Camilleri. Soon Micallef started building margins ahead of the rest where Camilleri, Pace kieth Borg in fourth place all did their best to defend their places. after the 9 laps Micallef was declared winner followed by keith Borg, Camilleri and Pace. Matthew Borg and Mallia retired late in the race because of technical malfunctions. The autocross Standard Class line-up was composed of Ter- ence azzopardi on an Opel Cor- sa, Deane Farrugia, Melvin Butt- igieg and ian Fenech all driving Citroen aX cars and Traydon Bailey on a Ford ka. Right from the Start azzopardi made good a very good launch followed by Farrugia and Bailey. The atten- tion turned on Farrugia where following a small error on his part, he lost a placing to Bailey and in the meantime Fenech found enough space to gain two positions. This Final ended with azzopardi winning the race fol- lowed by Fenech, Farrugia and Bailey. Buttigieg finished in 5th place. The Motocross officers were very busy with the large number of Maltese and Gozo competi- tors in both Class a and B. in Class a we saw an interesting quest between brothers Paul on a kTM and Trevor Muscat on a Honda with Paul winning both Heats. Clayton Camilleri on a kTM followed as Runner-up in one of the Heats. Yet at the end of the two Heats Paul Muscat was declared winner of the day followed by his brother Trevor. Clayton won 3rd place overall in Class a. The Motocross Class B was dominated by a large number of Gozo youths riding various brands of Motocross motorcy- cles. Heat One was dominated by etienne Bigeni on a kawasaki and followed by Mario Cauchi on a Honda. in the Second Heat of the day we saw a good start by Bigeni who dominated the first half of the race until Cauchi managed to overtake on Bigeni and held this position to the Finish. Cauchi 's victory over etienne Bigeni 's 2nd place was well deserved. Third place was won by joseph Bigeni on Honda. The Motocross Open Class which is run following the Race Heats was won by Paul Muscat on a kTM followed by Clayton Camilleri also on a kTM while third and fourth places were won by etienne Bigeni and ed- ward Ciantar, both on kawasaki motorcycles. Meanwhile the association notifies that the Motorsport ac- tivities for the month of Febru- ary will be as follows: - Sunday 14th February - enduro race; Saturday 20th February: - Pres- entation Dinner for the 2015 Champions and on 27th Febru- ary:- autocross and Motocross races at teh aSMk Complex at Ta Qali. Further information can be found in the website of the as- sociation; w w w.asmk.org.mt and on Facebook pages named:- a.S.M.k. Malta or assoċjazzjoni Sport Muturi u karozzi. One can make contact by email - info@ asmk.org.mt. Motocross starting line PHOTOGRAPHY BY Mario Micallef