Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/954081
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 14 MARCH 2018 Sport 22 MOTORSPORTS FORMULA 1 ASMK Mini Car Demolition Derby next Sunday ON Sunday 18 March 2017' 'Assocjazzjoni Sport Muturi u Karozzi' will be organising the seventh (7th) Autocross cars event of the ASMK and Pasta Poiatti 2017/2018 Na- tional Championship. The program begins at 10am when the Autocross cars will be in competition in two classes, that for standard cars and also another for the modified ones. Each class has to race in three rounds of qualification where the best competitors can race in the day's Finals of each class. Yet, the day's program reaches its climax at 3pm when an- other edition of the 'Mini Car Demolition Derby' is expected to start. For this edition of the Demo- lition Race 41 car drivers have registered and will be driving cars of not longer than four me- ters (13 ft). This measurement also reflects the overall weight of the cars for safety reasons. Thus, each driver must make his best choice of which car to use to stand a chance of a win and of qualifying as runner-up during this Demolition game. As usual, at 3pm the Associa- tion gives the drivers the op- portunity to demonstrate their cars to the crowd of spectators during Two Exhibition Laps on the wet track course before the cars begin their final journey to the scrapyard where they will be chopped and recycled for metal and other materials. Also earlier on Sunday ASMK is holding the 4th event for the Trials bikers. This ASMK Pasta Poiatti National Trials Championship event is to take place at the Quarry at Targiet Ghomor, Limits of San Pawl Tat-Targa and starts at 9am. The general public is invited to attend and entrance to the site is from near tat-Targa Kennels. Meanwhile, on Sunday 4th March 2018 the Association organised the fourth event of the 2017/2018 National Woto- moto Enduro Championship event which took place in the Quarry of Wied Ghomor, Limits of San Pawl tat-Targa. 24 riders competed on vari- ous motorcycle brands. The competitors were divided into three main classes according to riders' skills and experience in this field. The track for this event was 3.5 kilometres long on rough terrain. The activ- ity began with Pole Postion so the Association will be able to develop the Official Starting List. During this Heat Joseph Scicluna riding a KTM won the Pole followed by Bernard Sammut on Beta and by James Zahra on a Sherco. During the day's event we had this result. In Class A Sammut was seen to dominate in the first Heat of the day and he was followed by Scicluna and Zahra respectively. During the Second Heat matters were changed when Zahra managed to further improve on his pre- vious time and finished the day with his best time of 4 minutes 6.166 seconds. This resulted Zahra to win his class as well as the Best Overall of the day. Zahra was followed by Mat- thew Gauci on a KTM with a time of 4 minutes and 14.633 seconds. Thus, Scicluna just had to be content with third place with his best time of 4 mins 20.497 seconds. In Class B Matthieu Salo- mon was seen to make very fast runs on his KTM and he dominated this Class in his first Heat of the day where he registered his best time of 4 minutes 58.732 seconds. Salo- mon was followed by Alex Sant Fornier also on a KTM with his best time of 5 minutes 29.253 seconds. During the second Heat of the day James Grima and Ga- briel Muscat continued to bet- ter their timed laps and Grima registered a lap in 5 minutes 7.329 seconds and Muscat reg- istered his best lap time of 5 minutes 13.558 seconds. Still this resulted in Salomon win- ning his class by performing one lap only as he had to leave the track early. Grima and Muscat followed and closed the day in second and third places respectively. In Class C which is set for beginners and the less experi- enced riders the Result Score Board shows these results. Darren Borg riding a KTM won this class with his best time of 5 minutes 51.96 sec- onds. Borg was followed by Dale Galea riding on a Honda and registered his best time of 6 minutes 47.658 seconds. Third place was won by Kurt Muscat on a Yamaha with his best time of 8 minutes 33.447 seconds. Further information can be found on the website of the Association www.asmk. org.mt or on Facebook pages A.S.M.K. Malta or Association Sport Motorcycles and Cars. One can also make contact by email:- info@asmk.org.mt and via mobile 9942 5489. PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIO MICALLEF Fernando Alonso considered quitting F1 in 2017 MCLAREN driver Fernando Alonso considered quitting Formula 1 at the end of 2017 to pursue his dream of winning motorsport's unofficial triple crown. In an exclusive interview for the latest issue of F1 Racing magazine, on sale on Thurs- day, Alonso reveals he thought about ending his grand prix career to try to add Indianapo- lis 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours victories to his two Monaco GP wins. Alonso contested the Indy 500 last year and will combine his 2018 F1 programme with a Toyota World Endurance Championship campaign that will include his Le Mans debut. "Yes, I did think about the possibility of changing series and stopping Formula 1," he told F1 Racing. "After I did the Indy 500 last year, when I came back there were a couple of races in Austria, Silverstone, when I thought, 'Maybe next year I could try a different series; I could do full commitment to the triple crown and do Indy and Le Mans and maybe that's the best thing'. "But I felt it was not the time for me to step out – not right now, not after these results, not with this feeling," he said. "I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life and that I would have this bad taste for the rest of my racing career. "So definitely I still want to succeed. There is unfinished business for me and McLaren together. "And I think this year is the time all these things will change. I feel pretty sure about that." Alonso skipped the Monaco GP to race at Indy last year as McLaren sought to keep its star driver motivated during a dismal third season with Hon- da engines. McLaren has now switched to Renault power for 2018, and Alonso hopes he can move away from racing "with no hope". He described "a bad year for McLaren is third or fourth in the constructors' champion- ship, never ninth" – where McLaren finished in 2015 and '17. Asked if he hoped the com- ing season would be a "nor- mal" one, Alonso replied: "Yes – back to normality, back to this normal feeling of getting to every grand prix and pre- paring through practice and qualifying and knowing that you should be in the top five – and if you do well you could be on the podium. "And if you do something re- ally special, you could even be a winner. "That motivation and that preparation have been the things I've missed. "But these are things that I hope to have this year. That's the biggest expectation." Fernando Alonso