The 12th round from the 2012-13 ASMK-Pasta Poiatti Autocross Championship was held recently at the racing circuit in Ta’ Qali with the participation of 30 competitors.

Christian Mark Galea, in his Fiat Ritmo, won all Class A qualifying heats on the day while, in the Gozo Autocross Class, it was Domenic Zammit who prevailed in the qualifiers before the finals.

The top contenders on the start line, along with Galea, were Patrick Cassar and Joseph Martin, both on Opel Corsa, Vince Farrugia (VW Polo), and Opel Nova duo Josef Abela and Andrew Pisani.

The stakes were high as leading duo Cassar and Galea were off to a perfect start.

Yet, it was Cassar who seized the early initiative, closely followed by Galea with Pisani and Farrugia not too far behind.

For most of the nine laps, the front-runners had to rely on their experience to avoid mishaps on the hard-dirt surface which had been smoothed by the number of passes in the heats earlier in the day.

In the end, Cassar took the chequered flag ahead of Galea who still accumulated the highest number of points on the day. Pisani preserved third place ahead of Farrugia.

The finalists in Class B were Matthew Borg and Philip Joe Vella, both on Opel Nova, Ryan Scerri (Opel Corsa), Josef Grech and Duncan Delia (both Ford Fiesta) and Ġużi Pace (Ford Escort Mk1).

At the start, Scerri and Pace tussled for the lead, a battle between a front-wheeler and a rear-wheel car. Borg was also in contention and on lap five he tried to overtake Pace who breached the rules to block Borg.

Borg was forced to retire but Pace was handed a warning that also cost him points.

At the finish, Scerri was first and Pace was overtaken by Grech.

The race for Gozitan autocross drivers went to Christian Apap in his Ford Escort after staving off Zammit’s tough challenge.

Matthew Saliba (Ford Escort) was third ahead of Joseph Gauci (Alfa Sud).

The next races from the ASMK series will be on May 1.