Barwani is the SWS Sprint Senior Champion; Walton SWS Sprint Junior Champion Dubai, 15 December 2015: After a brief lay-off both Atef Al Barwani and Oliver Walton returned to contest the final round of the 2015 SWS Sprint Series at the Kartdrome on Monday night, and the pair used the occasion to celebrate winning the SWS Senior and SWS junior titles. Al Barwani had done enough in earlier rounds this season to ensure he topped the standings in the 2015 SWS Sprint Series Senior, claiming his fifth such title which makes him the UAE's all time biggest winner in this form of karting. Speaking after his triumph Al Barwani said, 'It feels like a Deja vu and doing it for the 5th time in a row is something very, very difficult so I’m very blessed and pleased to be the only Emirati to have this title and keep going strong with a lot of new talents and potential champions in the near future.” 'To all UAE SWS Sprint drivers they are the best to drive against they are all true champions in their own rights. It's been a tough contest but a true pleasure to be part of this series,' added the newly crowned champion. Walton was also back in action for the first time this winter, his early season results in the SWS Junior class had him top of the championship table from the outset, where he remained until the chequered flag waved to bring this season to an end on Monday evening. On the night Piers Pakenham-Walsh set the pace in qualifying, in a session where the top ten drivers were separated by only a second, setting the tone for the close contest across the field of 25 drivers. Pakenham-Walsh powered to Race 1 victory chased by Rami Azzam and Anjum Sheikh in second and third respectively. They were followed over the finish line by Ahmed Al Hamamdi in fourth, Abigail Birch fifth, Romaldo Labrooy sixth, Paul Cahtenay seventh and Hussain Umid Ali rounding out the top eight. Azzam was untouchable in Race 2 winning comfortably, by over seven seconds, from Umid Ali in second and Al Barwani who claimed third, with Al Hammadi was fourth, followed closely by Chatenay in fifth, Labrooy sixth, Birch seventh and Pakenham-Walsh down in eighth. Thus Al Barwani claimed the UAE SWS Sprint Series Senior title, with Azzam runner-up and Chatenay third overall. In the SWS Sprint Masters category, Merhi Ziad took top honours ahead of Adrian Jones in second and Alexandros Annivas third. Earlier in the evening Alex Connor qualified on pole, fastest of the 21 SWS Juniors, and powered to victory after a race long duel with Kamal Agha and Oliver Walton finishing second and third respectively - the trio crossing the line nose to tail. Danny Shields was fourth, ahead of Zaid Alami in fifth, Saif Al Naggar sixth, Alex Macmillan seventh and Rashid Al Dhaheri eighth. In Race 2, Agha made a break to take a comfortable victory by over five seconds over Walton, who did just enough to hold off third placed Shields. Jakub Fitzimmons was fourth, ahead of Connor in fifth, Al Naggar sixth, Alami seventh and Cameron Macmillan eighth. Walton thus ended the season as UAE SWS Sprint Junior champion, with Al Naggar runner-up and Agha third in the standings. The 2015 SWS Sprint champions will receive an automatic entry to the SWS Grand Finals in France next year, with several wild card drivers from the UAE also likely to make the trip.
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