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It’s a beautiful
sunny day here in Sharm El Sheikh for the 10th
annual Rotax MAX Grand Finals. This is the last day
of racing and everything is up for grabs now. Who
will be DD2 champion? Who will win the Nations
Championship? To answer all those questions, the
races must be run. One thing is already known,
whoever the drivers are that reach the podium, they
will have fought very hard to get there and will be
deserving champions indeed.
The Junior MAX
pre-final got underway at 10:10 and was set to run
for 12 laps. Making a fantastic start from outside
the front row to take the lead over pole-sitter
Edward Brand (UK) was Japanese driver Ukyo Sasahara.
Not to be outdone, Edward gathered himself together
and re-took the lead on lap two.
During the first lap,
Edward Brand (UAE), the Junior who set the fast time
in qualifying, ran into problems and dropped from
his fourth starting position to 30th. He
was able to get everything sorted enough to climb
back through the field to finish 16th in
a very impressive drive.
During all this,
Matthew Parry (UK) had done a steady start to the
race and just started methodically moving his way to
the front. By lap seven he was in the lead to stay
and the race ran out with him the winner.
The Junior MAX
Pre-Final top three were:
1. Matthew Parry (United Kingdom)
2. Edward Brand (United Kingdom)
3. Ukyo Sasahara (Japan)
The Senior MAX
Pre-Final was the second straight win for the United
Kingdom as it was Luke Varley in the lead all the
way to the end. At the end of the first lap it was
Sandro Lukovic (AUT) in second followed by Joey
Wimsett (USA) in third. On the seventh lap Mario
Vendla (EST) got by Wimsett for second. On the next
lap, Matthew Hamilton (NZ) was able to get around
the American for third. In the end, Varley pulled
out an impressive lead to win by over five seconds
over Mario Vendla.
 
The Senior MAX top
three were:
1. Luke Varley (United Kingdom)
2. Mario Vendla (Estonia)
3. Matthew Hamilton (New Zealand)
The DD2 Pre-Final saw
South Africa’s Ralph Odendaal on the pole. Ralph has
so far set fast qualifying time and won all his heat
races. The Pre-Final confirmed that he is the man to
beat this year at Ghibli Raceway as he got a clean
start and pulled away to win comfortably by 3.3
seconds over Denis Thum (GER). In fact, in the later
laps of the race, Ralph was making is look almost
relaxing as he cruised around the circuit.
Behind Ralph the
action was all the way through the field. On lap
two, Denis Thum took over second spot from Maik
Bartens (HOL) followed by Cody Hodgson (USA). Just
past the half way point, Hodgson was able to make
his way into third ahead of Japan’s Yuya Hirayama.
The DD2 Pre-Final top
three were:
1. Ralph Odendaal (South Africa)
2. Denis Thum (Germany)
3. Cody Hodgson (United States)
At straight up Noon,
it was time for the driver’s parade. This is a very
colorful moment of the Grand Finals when all the
drivers from all the teams assemble in their suits
and march onto the track in team formation. The lead
drivers get the honor of carrying their country’s
flag. It is the most popular photo opportunity of
the entire week.
After the driver’s
parade it was time to get serious. The last set of
races, the finals, were about to take place. All
that had happened until now was just for position.
The final is the race that pays the trophy and the
title of Grand Finals champion.
The first final to
take place was a 20-lap race for the Junior MAX
competitors. On pole was Matthew Parry who was
focused on taking the win after his pre-final
victory. Edward Brand (UK) and Ukyo Sasahara (JPN)
had their own plans as well and promised to go for
the front.
The start was clean
with only minor contact. At the end of the first
lap, it was Edward Brand who had taken the lead over
Sasahara and Parry. As good as it was going for the
top three, the day had turned into a nightmare for
Edward Jones (UAE), the driver who qualified number
one. Edward’s race day was beset with problems and,
midway through the final, he was seen limping pack
to the pits and into retirement. Hopefully we’ll see
Edward have better fortune in future Grand Finals.
Back at the front,
Edward Brand was holding a steady lead over Sasahara.
Then, with just two laps to go, the Japanese driver
slipped into the lead. His supporters from the land
of the rising sun burst into jubilation, cheering
Ukyo all the way to the checkered flag.
At the end of the
Junior MAX race, the top ten were:
1. Ukyo Sasahara (Japan)
2. Matthew Parry (United Kingdom)
3. Edward Brand (United Kingdom)
4. Miika Laiho (Finland)
5. Luke Rochford (Australia)
6. Muhammad Jan Al Jeffry (Malaysia)
7. Kay van Kemenade (Netherlands)
8. Henry Hunter (United Kingdom)
9. Aavo Talvar (Estonia)
10. Felipe Vargas (Costa Rica)
 
Senior MAX saw their
Final go off promptly at 2:10 PM. In addition to the
trophy and the world title, the winner of this race
would receive a 2.0 liter Formula Renault test with
van Amersfoort Racing. The pole position was
occupied by the UK’s Luke Varley who was looking to
capitalize on his Pre-Final win by grabbing an early
lead in the Final.
While on the grid
before the race, announcer Ken Walker could be heard
interviewing the top drivers on the grid. During
this time the sun was getting quite warm but,
thankfully, there were umbrella girls on the grid to
provide ht e drivers some shade in their thick
safety suits.
At the drop of the
green flag, it was Matthew Hamilton (UK) getting a
great jump and assuming the early lead. Behind
Hamilton, second place belonged to a handful of
drivers over the first five laps until Mario Vendla
(EST) assumed the position. By this time, however,
Luke Varley, who had fallen down to fifth on the
first lap, was already back in the lead and pulling
a small gap on the field.
The lead Varley had
was one he would keep until the end of the race. In
the end he was able to hold a 1.7 second lead over
Mario Vendla (EST), who held 3.4 seconds over
Matthew Hamilton of New Zealand.
At the end of the
Senior MAX Final, the top ten were:
1. Luke Varley (United Kingdom)
2. Mario Vendla (Estonia)
3. Matthew Hamilton (New Zealand)
4. Joey Wimsett (United States)
5. Mike Simpson (United Kingdom)
6. Andreas H. Jensen (Denmark)
7. Phillip Arscott (United States)
8. John Norris (Ireland)
9. Tyler Greenbury (Australia)
10. Mike Joosens (Netherlands)
DD2 was up last and
all indication through the week had Ralph Odendaal
the odds-on favorite for the title. The South
African from Durban had set fastest qualifying time,
won all his heat races and effortlessly won the
Pre-Final. But, nothing is ever that straightforward
in racing and, as the saying goes, that’s why they
run the races.
At the start of the
race Ralph was flanked by German Denis Thum and most
expected an all-out battle between the two since the
two had won five out of the six DD2 heats. But, that
was not to be as Denis did not get a good start and
it was American Cody Hodgson slotting into second.
Unlike the heat races when Ralph had checked out on
the pack, this time he could not get away from
Hodgson who stayed on his tail.
Before the race when
Ken Walker was interviewing the drivers, he asked
South Africa’s Caleb Williams what his feelings were
about not having the results in the heat races he
had wanted. Caleb’s answer was simple, “It’s not
over yet!” And sure enough, he was to move from a
sixth place starting spot up to third by lap two.
Then, on lap eight, when Cody Hodgson made a passing
attempt on Odendaal that didn’t come off, he was
into second. From that moment on, Williams stalked
Odendaal until there were four laps to go and then
made his move for a lead he was to hold until the
end.
Back in the pack,
there was passing and more passing all through the
grid. The biggest mover of the race, by a long way,
was American Troy Castaneda who charged through all
the way from last place on the grid (34th),
all the way up to fifth place!
After the final DD2
race, the top ten were:
1. Caleb Williams (South Africa)
2. Ralph Odendaal (South Africa)
3. Cody Hodgson (United States)
4. Kevin Gracholskis (Lithuania)
5. Troy Castaneda (United States)
6. Imre Brizdo (Hungary)
7. Mike Spencer (United Kingdom)
8. Jim Ringelberg (The Netherlands)
9. Joao Correia (Portugal)
10. Jason Pringle (Australia)
In addition to the
main classes, the Grand Finals also has categories
for Master’s competitors. Masters are drivers over
the age of 32 that compete in the same class but for
their own trophy. The Masters classes are very
important to BRP-Powertrain because the older
drivers who need a simple, reliable powerplant for
their kart are at the heart of the Rotax MAX
program.
The Senior MAX
Masters top three are:
1. Christophe Adams (Belgium)
2. Jerome Bourquard (France)
3. Pedro Loures (Portugal)
The DD2 Masters top
three is:
1. Jesus Santander (Spain)
2. Guy Pansart (France)
3. Stogian Gosevits (Greece)
Last, but certainly
is the team championship, the Nations Cup. Each year
every country must designate three of their drivers,
one in each category, before any track action
begins. The finishes of those drivers are added
together and the team with the best score is the top
nation for 2009.
This year, the top
thee Nations at the Grand Finals are:
1. United Kingdom
2. United States
3. New Zealand
The last official
event of the event will be the closing ceremonies
tonight. BRP-Powertain has something special planned
as the party is to be held out in the desert. At the
event, the finals of the Mojo Tyre Changing
Championship will take place. For results of that
competition, please check back on this site for
final updates.
For now, from all of
us at BRP-Powertarin, good by from Ghibli Raceway in
Sharm El Sheikh.
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