Karting |02 November 2023

Intermediate class’ champion Christian Bastienne (centre), vice-champion Denilson Melanie (left), third-place- Carlos Quatre (Photo: Contributed)

Dave Rene, Christian Bastienne clinch final 2023 championship titles

Last Sunday saw the final round of the 2023 national karting championship reach its climax with two more titles on offer, these being the Masters and Intermediate ‘A’ class.

On a very hot day, but with perfect racing conditions, the two classes raced on the short version of the Champions Park Raceway circuit, a layout from its original which is shorter but slightly more demanding especially in overtaking.

Dave Rene, who had a comfortable points tally going into this final round, took the 2023 Masters championship title by finishing second in the race, whilst Christian Bastienne was made to fight right up to the last lap to clinch the Intermediate ‘A’ crown and also winning the race.

In the Masters class, Dave was fastest in qualifying and led Liza Rene-Cosgrow in the pre-final, but after seeing his challengers easing up to save tyres, he made a tactical move, letting Liza by and easing off himself to claim second place, and at the same time make sure that the he had to drop less points from his total tally. However, in the final it was no holds barred between the two as they battled tooth and nail till the last lap when Dave made an unsuccessful move that lost time and settled for second whilst Liza took victory. Behind them Marc Delcy had to put up a strong battle with Steven Rosalie to claim third place. Steven nipped by on the first lap of the 12-lap final, but Marc struck back immediately to regain the position, whilst Rennick Bonnelame paced his race in order to save his tyres and had to settle for fifth place.

Dave took the title with 141 points followed by Liza (125 points), Marc (90 points), Rennick (62 points), Steven (26 points) and the absent Fabio Williams (14 points).

In the Intermediate ‘A’ class, Christian Bastienne came into the last race just two points ahead of Eric Maillet, and all he had to do was to finish ahead to claim the title which he did in the end.

However, the race didn’t go well for Maillet as moving up the field to second, he was accidently squeezed into the tricky hairpin bend by another driver and spun round. He had to let the whole field past before he could resume.

Denilson Melanie took the opportunity to nip by to claim second position, with Carlos Quatre doing the same for third position. Dean Maillet got fourth with Mitra Labrosse fifth, Terence Anderson sixth and the luckless Eric Maillet seventh.

Apart from Maillet’s overtaking incident, the race was straightforward with most of the drivers running nose to tail for the entire race.

In the end, Christian Bastienne became the champion with 119 points followed by Denilson Melanie (108 points), Carlos Quatre (95 points), Eric Maillet (93 points), Mitra Labrosse (72 points), Dean Maillet (66 points), the absent Jean-David Melanie (63 points), and Terence Anderson (34 points).

This Sunday – November 5 – sees the season ending KART GRAND PRIX where all the racing classes in Seychelles will come together to contest the final race of the season.

 A total of 32 drivers have entered and the organisers are hoping that the weather will be kind to them so that the scheduled 10-race event can be completed.

The Seychelles Karting Association will bring to an end the 2023 racing season with a big prize-giving gala night on Saturday November 18 where drivers will receive their trophies from the whole season’s racing.

Contributed