The third and final round of the Chevrolet Speed Star 2008 Championship will kick off Wednesday with 25 cars taking part in the event scheduled to take place at Al-Reem Circuit in Riyadh. After successful first and second rounds in Jeddah and Al-Khobar respectively this year, all is set for the final leg of the event as Chevrolet goes ahead with its plans to continue supporting motorsport events in the Kingdom. Abdullah Bakhashab, motorsport developer in the Kingdom and organizer of the event, expressed his happiness at organizing such an event in collaboration with Chevrolet Motorsport team for the second straight year. “It is my pleasure to announce the launch of the Chevrolet Speed Star Championship 2008 final round, which is helping bring a controlled and formalized structure to what is popularly known as drifting skills. Exciting as it may be, this is not the kind of driving we encourage on public roads, hence our involvement in transforming it into an organized motor sport discipline. “Saudis, who are undoubtedly skilled drivers, can now find an outlet for their talents on the race-track, and not the highways,” said Bakhashab Elaborating on the championship and its judging criteria, Amer Al-Nahdi, the Race Clerk of the course, said that in each round participants will display their skills on a twisting track specifically designed for the championship. The races will be judged on time, and drivers will accumulate points from each round with the title awarded to the driver with the most number of points. Twenty points will be awarded for the first position, 15 for the second, 12 for the third, 10 for the fourth, 8 for the fifth, 6 for the sixth, 4 for the seventh and 2 for the eighth. Cash awards await the winners at the end of the event: SR10,000 for the 1st spot, Sr6,000 for the second and SR3,000 for the third. Last year's competition was quite useful for the youths who took part in the event. Even the media personnel attending the event were treated to an exciting preview of drifting techniques when they experienced it themselves by riding alongside a professional driver. Ahmad Al-Esa had won the first round in Jeddah, Eyad Al-Najar was second and Bandar Al-Ghaleb third. Ahmad Al-Esa was on top in the second round with a time of 00:52.800, Eyad Al-Najjar was second; and Abdulhadi Al-Qahtani third. Over the past year, Chevrolet Motorsport has demonstrated its commitment to developing grass-roots motor sports in the region by sponsoring competitions in drag racing, drifting, Tat'ees, and track racing. __
