Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/683529
22 THE first offshore race for Royal Malta Yacht Club crews was a success which fully justified the Club's decision to postpone the race a couple of weeks before due to bad weather. Supported by Citadel Insurance plc, the Mar- zamemi Weekend Regatta is one of the Club's most popular and competitive races on its calendar. A f leet of twenty five boats, split in three racing classes and the Club cruising class, left Marsamexett Harbour early on a Friday morning, setting off for the first passage race up, cross- ing the Malta-Sicily Channel and finishing off in Marzamemi. Jamie Sammut, skipper of Iso- mat Unica, Overall Winner in the race up to Marzamemi re- marked - "We took the risk of starting with a code 0 to make sure we stay with the big boats. Twenty miles away from Malta the wind started picking up to 18 – 20 knots. The wind backed a couple of degrees and hoisted the kite, the boat was f lying towards Marzamemi doing between 10 – 15 knots. Elusive BOV who was close to us finished just around a minute and a half ahead to claim line honours, however we man- aged to beat them on corrected time. A big well done goes to the crew John Cachia, Joe Vassallo, Tony Demajo, Jeremy Gravina for the hard work and great teamwork" The picturesque seaside village of Marzamemi comes to life with the arrival of Maltese gang. After all the excitement and adrenaline experience in the race up, Satur- day sees crews congregating in the piazza for a long afternoon of socialising, exchanging jokes and experiences before preparing their boats for the passage race down to Malta on the Sunday. Weather conditions for both races were billed as perfect, with constant winds that enabled most boats to f ly towards Mar- zamemi with speeds reaching between 10 – 15 knots. Similar conditions were experienced at the start of the race back to Malta with winds dying down as crews starting to reach Malta. Speaking after the race Ferdi- nand Grech, Kontiki Skipper, enthused - "For my crew and I, it was one of the best regat- tas I have ever participated in, sailing up was fantastic perfect wind and wind direction and we have placed first in our class and forth overall. Sailing down was also a very good experience and have also enjoyed every minute of it. As usual the race was very well organized, thumbs up to the committee. A very big well done and thank you to Citadel Insurance, all participants and organizers alike. Looking for- ward to the next race" KonTiki won the Overall Class in the passage race down to Malta. A prize giving ceremony was held later on at the Royal Malta Yacht Club in the presence of crews, families and friends and representatives of Citadel In- surance plc who presented the winners of the various catego- ries with their prizes. "With boats coming off the hard in time for this race, we are always pleased with the enthusiasm and competitive spirit that crews emit in these racing conditions" commented Godwin Zammit, Commodore of the Royal Malta Yacht Club. "We are also pleased with the interest that Citadel Insurance plc has shown towards this race, and are grateful for this part- nership which has now been in place for a number of years". The Race Committee was as- sisted by members of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club who f lew in purposely to assist in the Cita- del Marzamemi Weekend Re- gatta. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 MAY 2016 Sport MOTORSPORTS Successful Citadel Marzamemi Weekend Regatta Race to Marzamemi (Friday 13th May) Race to Malta (Sunday 15th May) Overall 1st Isomat Unica (Jamie Sammut) KonTiki (Ferdinand Grech) IRC Class 1 1st Isomat Unica (Jamie Sammut) Isomat Unica (Jamie Sammut) 2nd Elusive 2 BOV (Maya Podesta) Elusive 2 BOV (Maya Podesta) 3rd Allegra (Patrick Vassallo) Xpresso (Sean Borg) IRC Class 2 1st Puddleduck (Chris Selvagi) Puddleduck (Chris Selvagi) 2nd Time Out (Mario Sant) Fast Forward (Mark Vassallo) 3rd Kaimana (David Anastasi) Kaimana (David Anastasi) IRC Class 4 1st KonTiki (Ferdinand Grech) KonTiki (Ferdinand Grech) 2nd Mawimbi (Ian Pace) Mawimbi (Ian Pace) RMYC Cruiser 1st Toddler (Mike Montanaro Gauci) Nauti Buoy (Robert Ciantar) 2nd For Pete's Sake (Peter Rough) Janissah (Mario Debono) 3rd Kira (Gino Cutajar) Kira (Gino Cutajar) Results Johnson wins in Autocross and ASMK Riders in Santa Pod and Austria THE 'Assoċjazzjoni Sport Mutu- ri u Karozzi' last Sunday organ- ized the tenth event of the ASMK Pasta POIATTI 2015/16 Cham- pionships. This event included the Autocross and the Motocross races which are becoming more competitive as we are approach- ing the end of another competi- tive season. The stress is more pronounced, especially in those categories which are yet unde- cided. During the day the Autocross Standard and Modified catego- ries competed for three heats and in an anti-clockwise direction which is also a bit faster than usual. In the Modified category Christian Mark Galea only won all heats of the day on a Fiat Rit- mo to seal his place in the final Class A. Johnson Gordon quali- fied together with Malcom Borg both on Opel Corsa, Andrew Pisani on a Vauxhall Nova, and Karl Micallef and Godfrey Gauci both on a Ford Fiesta formed the lineup. Right from the start of this final we saw a good launch by Galea and Johnson to the first corner where Galea took the helm of the race final followed by Johnson and Micallef. During this final we witnessed excellent driving and competitive sports to the end of the race. Half way through the focus turned on Borg and Johnson who have been making pressure to advance their posi- tion. Johnson managed to over- take Galea in the second lap and took the lead and was followed by Galea and Micallef. This latter was put under pressure by Borg until Borg managed to pass Mi- callef and Galea who appeared to have developed some kind of technical fault which cost him to lose some placings. Soon this race came to an end with John- son registering his first Class A win of the season. Johnson was followed by Borg and Galea. Fourth place was won by Gauci. Pisani and Micallef in fifth and sixth places. The Final Class B lineup was composed of Jurgen Mallia on Honda Civic, Josef Abela on his Opel Nova, Joseph Micallef on his Opel Corsa, the Vauxhall No- va of Keith Borg, James Micallef on his Opel Corsa and the Ford Fiesta of Ryan Scicluna. From the start of this final race Joseph Micallef and Abela made a very good launch with Micallef taking the lead followed by Abela and Scicluna. The focus turned on Abela who was making pressure on Micallef and managed to pass him to the end of the race. This Class B final ended with Abela registering his first Class win of this season followed by Micallef and Scicluna who maintaining their positions right to the end. Fourth place finisher was Borg while James Micallef and Jurgen Mallia retired before the finish due to some technical malfunc- tion. In the final for the Standard Category the starting line was composed of Karl Scicluna on Peugeot 106, Nicovich Chircop on Peugoet 206, Traydon Bailey on Ford Ka, Deane Farrugia and Ian Fenech both on a Citroen AX. On the start all cars group together but it was Chircop who found a slot to take the lead for a lap or two. Farrugia and Fenech followed close behind. Chircop who was driving his first race ever had his lead short lived as Deane soon overtook him fol- lowed by Fenech. Farrugia held his position to the Finish Flag making this race his fifth win this season followed by Fenech and Scicluna. Bailey finished in fourth place followed by Chir- cop. Although the Motocross race today had a small competitor's attendance yet they performed great skills during their two qualifying races. The Camilleri brothers dominated the Class A while as was again expected Class B was again revamped and dominated by Gozo Riders. The Class A two heats were won by Clayton Camilleri on a KTM motorcycle. He was in combat with his brother Kyle for quite a number of laps but before the finish Kyle succumbed to the pressure of Clayton. During the second heat Clayton continued on his success by winning this race ahead of all but he was al- ways followed by brother Kyle. In Class B we saw that Mario Cauchi on a Honda motorcycle continued to defend his lead in the Championship and title in this class. He managed to win both heats on the day. Mario was always followed by Jorn Stel- lini on a Kawasaki and Matthew Zammit on a Yamaha. Cauchi also continued to repeat his suc- cess of the day by also winning the Open Class MX category. Stellini and Zammit followed in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Meanwhile during the end of this week the Association has various Riders committed to rac- ing outside the country. Six En- duro Riders will be taking part in the 20th edition of the 2016 Red Bull Hare Scrambles in Erz-ber- grodeo between tomorrow and 29th May. The Maltese riders in this event are James and Wayne Zahra, Gary Debono, Matthew Gauci, Ian and Joseph Scicluna. In this edition the organizers are expecting about 1,500 riders from around the world. Though this is the second experience for James and Matthew, the other riders will be experiencing their first experience. Meanwhile during this week-