CIK World Alaharma: Why we have to go

 The FIA ​​Karting OK / OKJ 2019 World Championship was in dubt after what happened last week in the test race. But it's pretty clear: we have to go, rather!

 

At the center of the controversies surrounding the most important event of the OK and OKJ classes is the issue related to the safety of the track, the Mika Salo Circuit of Alaharma.

 

"There are no suitable escape routes", this is the chorus of the insiders after the incidents that occurred in the round of the Finnish Karting Championship in which numerous "internationals" took part last weekend to prepare the world championship.

 

In particular, the area of ​​the bridge, in the section below and in the raised floor, would not have the adequate distance between the end of the asphalt strip and the barriers (testimony here). According to whom? According to pilots, teams and parents.

 

In the wake of the "protest", President Felipe Massa would even have proposed canceling the event, despite not having witnessed the race last weekend in person. A decision then retracted - fortunately to say - less than 15 days from the official start of the FIA Karting OK and OKJ World Championship.

 

 

In reality we need to correct the shot and ask ourselves first of all why it is not right to cancel the event. The image damage, as well as economic as all the teams have already moved structures and personnel, would be illogical. Try to think of a 2019 without its own world champion.

 

Secondly, it is not possible in a short time to organize a new event with the high standards to which CIK FIA and RGMMC aim, also in relation to the final rush of the WSK season with which it was difficult to find an agreement on the calendar. And then we need to take different measures. Yes ... but which ones?

 

 

"Let's modify the track". Easy, isn't it? However, two weeks before the event, we have to deal with reality: costs, implementation and testing, as well as the re-approval of the track; a race against time which, experience teaches, never leads to anything good.

 

And then?
 

Despite the controversy, the event should be played according to the traditional layout of the track. A conditional that is mandatory at the moment, given the speed with which the cards on the table change today.

 

 

For those who had started to follow the world of karting from the day the 2019 calendar came into force, it is worth remembering that the ratification came with a clear delay compared to the usual due to the controversies linked to the Alaharma race: a difficult location to reach and far from the motor valley of karting. A good connoisseur ...