RIYADH: The third and final round of the Chevrolet Speed Star 2008 Championship is being held this weekend with the participation of 20 cars at Al Reem Circuit in Riyadh for two days from today.
The championship conducted its first leg in Jeddah on July 2-3 and the 2nd round in Alkhobar on Sept. 18-19. Abdullah Bakhashab, motorsport developer in the Kingdom and organizer of the event, said: “It is my pleasure to announce the launch of the Chevrolet Speed Star Championship 2008 final round after the success of the 1st and the 2nd rounds. Driving skills have come in for a lot of criticism in Saudi Arabia — and rightly so. Exciting as it may be, this is not the kind of driving we encourage on public roads, hence our involvement in transforming it into an organized motorsport discipline.” “Saudi drivers who are undoubtedly skilled in driving technique can now find an outlet for their talents on the race-track, and not the highway,” Bakhashab added. Amer Al-Nahdi, the Race Clerk of the course, explained the details of the new championship 2008 and the judging criteria. Over the past year, Chevrolet Motorsport has demonstrated its commitment to developing grassroots motorsports in the region, by sponsoring competitions in drag racing, drifting, Tat’ees, and track racing. With the new Chevrolet Speed Star Championship, motorsport has successfully implemented the vision articulated last year, and has elevated local motorsports in the region to higher degrees of safety and excitement, he said.
In the first round in Jeddah, Ahmad Al-Esa scored the first ever victory in driving skills competition with 01:48:403. This historic achievement was behind the effort of Chevrolet Motorsport team in the Kingdom. Eyad Al-Najar, driving his modified 6 cylinders BMW M3 car managed to score 01:51:234 to be 2nd and Bandar Al-Ghaleb, driving his modified 8 cylinders Toyota Supra was third with 01:52:223.
In the 2nd round in Alkhobar, Ahmad Al-Esa led the podium by clocking the best time of 00:52.800. Eyad Al-Najjar came 2nd clocking 00:53.257 driving his red standard 8 cylinder Lumina SS. Abdulhadi Al-Qahtani managed to be 3rd on his standard 6 cylinder Lumina SS clocking 00:53.694
