Graham wins in U18, Ndrio and Boccolacci share the honours in Academy

UK’s Matthew Graham (Zanardi) won the main final of Round 1 of the 2011 CIK-FIA “U18” World Championship in a race in which he made a good recovery after a difficult start, although he was on pole-position following the combined results of both prefinals. Italy’s Federico Savona (Top Kart) and Finland’s Pyry Ovaska (Maranello) came second and third, ahead of Henry Easthope (Sodi) and the Dane Jannick Flygenring (Mach 1). The Italian Antonio Maria Giovinazzi (PCR) was a strong leader but was forced to retire halfway through the race.

In the Academy Trophy, Aleksander Ndrio inherited the win in Race 1 after Spain’s Diego Rodriguez got a 3-second penalty for leaving his corridor before the start lights were switched off. Ndrio scored a historical victory, being the very first Albanian licence-holder to win a CIK, and even an FIA Championship event! Rodriguez thought he had taken a convincing revenge in Race 2, which he won in front of France’s Dorian Boccolacci, only to be judged too light at the final weight control.


CIK-FIA “U18” World Championship Third Round to be Rescheduled
On Friday, the CIK also announced a schedule change for the last round planned to be host in Bahrain in November.
The official communication read as follows:
 
"The Commission Internationale de Karting of the FIA (CIK-FIA) today announced that the third rounds of the 2011 CIK-FIA “U18” World Championship and Academy Trophy races tabled for November 5th in Bahrain are set to be rescheduled.
Following discussions between the CIK, FIA, Bahrain Motor Federation and Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), it was mutually agreed that the Bahrain fixtures should be re-located for this season to bring the CIK-FIA in-line with the decision of the BIC last month to withdraw from hosting Bahrain’s Formula 1 Grand Prix during this season’s racing calendar.
CIK-FIA recognise the extraordinary effort and investment made by the BIC in the construction and establishment of a new state-of-the-art Karting track, which was due to be unveiled at November’s races, and very much looks forward to the Bahrain event returning to next year’s CIK-FIA calendar.
The new venue and timings for this year’s third round competition legs will be announced by the CIK-FIA over the coming days and it is hoped that the fixture dates themselves will remain largely unaltered."