Challenging weekend for Shahan at Elite Speedway

03 April 2016 (Elite Speedway, Malaysia): For 11-year old Shahan Ali Mohsin, a weekend of high hopes went awry as after completing a winning run in heats and pre-finals, he could only muster a hard-fought sixth place in the finals of Round 2 of the 2016 Rotax Asia Max Challenge held here.

Kicking off the practice on a high note by topping the timesheets, Shahan was looking to build on his momentum from the opening round of the championship, where he had been in contention for the top spot and had finished a close second.

The Indian National Micro Max Karting Champion was on the second row in qualifying, despite being only 0.132 seconds adrift – clearly showcasing the level of competition in the Asian Karting Championship.

Competing in the micro max category (8-12 years) made up of Asia’s top karting racers, Shahan is driving for Top Kart Asia team – led by the experienced Wai Leong from Malaysia.

However, the setback didn’t seem to deter him at all as he went on to win the first heat, overhauling pole sitter Amer Harris from Malaysia on the opening lap and scurried away in the distance with absolutely no resistance.

Heat 2 was also a close affair but this time it was Harris who came out on top with Shahan second after having started fourth.

In the closely-fought pre-final, Shahan was once again on the podium – despite finishing third he managed to set the fastest time of the race and things were looking good for the finals.

But it wasn’t to be as Shahan dropped to fifth place in the opening lap melee and lost another place in the bargain later on in the race, eventually ending up sixth. The fact that he posted the fastest lap of the race came as little consolation.

“It is really disappointing – to have such strong pace throughout yet having only a sixth place in the finals”, commented Shahan.

“Obviously weekends like these teach you a lot more than you’d learn on a good weekend so I am hoping we can absorb and apply this in our future races and come out stronger when situations like these arise again”, he added.

However, thanks to the dominant showing in Round 1, Shahan is still a close second in the overall championship standings with 165 points, with Oscar NG leading the table with 167.

In addition to his campaign in Asia, Shahan will continue to compete in the JK Tyre Rotax Max National Karting Championship in India, where he will defend his Micro Max Championship title.