Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/756492
22 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2016 Sport MOTORING FORMULA 1 ASMK representatives in Berlin; Sunday Enduro in Qrendi THE Assocjazzjoni Sport Muturi u Karozzi (ASMK) will continue with its 2nd Enduro Motorcycle event of the ASMK-Pasta Poi- atti National Enduro Champion- ship this Sunday at the Xaghra tal-Maghlaq' quarry, l/o Qrendi. Competitor registration begins at 9am while racing is scheduled to start at 10am. This event is also open to non-ASMK registered members. Meanwhile, following the first Enduro event held in October at Ta' Qali Race Circuits the Enduro classification is now open. Joseph Scicluna on a KTM leads the scale and is followed by Matthew Gauci on a Sherco motorcycle. Scicluna and Gauci are followed by James Zahra on a Yamaha and Bernard Sammut on a KTM respectively. The association is currently engaged in carrying out the last preparations on the tracks at Ta' Qali Sports Complex. By the end of this week the tracks will be opened again for car and moto- cross training sessions. This work is in its final phase on the car track while the Start Gate of the Moto- cross racers is to be located in a different place and in a different direction in the coming days. The Autocross cars inspections on each vehicle are currently un- derway by checking and testing each car before the start of the season. The last day that one can have his car checked by the ASMK officers is on Saturday, 10 Decem- ber between 1 and 5pm. Representatives of the associa- tion were present at the annual general conference of the Inter- national Motorcycle Federation (FIM) which was held in Germany last weekend. The delegation was formed by John Micallef, ASMK vice-president, Johann Pace, secretary general, and Manuel Camilleri, treasurer. On Saturday, 26 November the delegation also attended the FIM general assembly while on Sunday 27th, they attended the ceremony in which all FIM World Motorcy- cle Champions are presented with trophies by FIM president Dr. Vito Ippolito. Following the experience and good reputation gained last year when ASMK organized the FIM- Europe annual general conference in Malta, the delegation discussed the possibility of holding the World FIM conference which is held in honour of all FIM Motor- cycle World Champions. This event is of a much larger scale than last year's FIM-Europe conference, as this will host about 1,100 persons between officials, delegates, competitors and world champions as well as several aces who will be declared as legendary during this conference. There is strong interest in Mal- ta's proposal, in fact ASMK will be having a visit from a FIM delegate next March as a result of our pro- posal. If this proposal is awarded to ASMK, there will be the possi- bility of FIM organizing the FIM World Conference in Malta for two consecutive years. Our tar- get are the years 2019 and 2020 as Andorra are already committed to organize the 2017 and 2018 con- ferences. For more information one can visit the ASMK official website at www.asmk.org.mt or on social site Facebook, ASMK Malta or by sending an email to info@asmk. org.mt Monza finally confirms F1 deal to 2019 MONZA has finally signed a deal to continue hosting the Italian Grand Prix through to 2019, the circuit announced on Tuesday morning. The future of the Italian Grand Prix had appeared uncertain earlier in the year, before Bernie Ecclestone announced at the 2016 event that an agreement had been reached. No contract had formally been signed but circuit officials took to social media on Tuesday to confirm that the details had been finalised, with a contract locked in place. "Commitments kept, the Grand Prix of Italy remains at Monza for the coming years," the circuit confirmed on its of- ficial social media pages. Monza has hosted the Ital- ian Grand Prix annually since 1950, aside from in 1980, when the redevelopment of the circuit meant it was temporarily held at Imola. Hamilton defends Abu Dhabi race tactics LEWIS Hamilton has defended his tactics during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as he attempted to deny Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg the 2016 World Champi- onship. Hamilton needed to win the sea- son-ending race at the Yas Marina Circuit and hope that Rosberg was not able to finish on the podium in order to defend his title. Hamilton started from pole po- sition and led away, before main- taining a gap over the second stint of the race, in which Rosberg was initially stuck behind the yet-to- pit Max Verstappen. Following the second round of stops, Hamilton held a one-sec- ond advantage over Rosberg, and received several messages from Mercedes to increase his pace, as Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen closed in. Rosberg ultimately held on to second position, closely pursued by Vettel and Verstappen, ena- bling him to clinch the title, while race-winner Hamilton explained his approach. "I don't know why they didn't just let us just race," said Hamil- ton of Mercedes' messages. "There was never a moment where I felt I was going to lose the race. "It's a shame that they wouldn't [let us race], but it's quite clear their through process and, I mean, I don't really have much to say." When pushed further on the radio messages from Mercedes, and whether it exacerbated an "intense" situation, Hamilton re- plied: "It was pretty chilled at the end. "Maybe it was intense for you [the media], but it wasn't intense for me. "I'm in a position where I've obviously had a lot of points lost during the season so for me, I'm out there fighting and I generally never try to do anything to harm the team or the brand or anything like that. "But we've won the Construc- tors' Championship, so it was down to me and Nico. "And however, they still felt they needed to make comments and so… well, you know, we'll discuss it afterwards, as we always do as a team, and pull back in." Hamilton was also asked wheth- er he felt his approach was 'fair'. "I don't think I did anything dangerous, I don't feel I did any- thing unfair," he said. "We're fighting for a champion- ship, I was in the lead, I control the pace – that's the rules." Lewis Hamilton