Baggsy bags OIDC crown

MUSCAT, FEB 19

United Kingdom’s Steve Baggsy continued his brilliant run into the third and final round of Oman International Drift Championship 2022 to bag the overall championship here on Friday night.

Baggsy, who had two third-place podiums in the last two rounds, edged a fighting Ahmad Daham of Jordan in the final of the third round at the Oman Automobile Association’s Muscat Drift Arena.

Lithuania’s Benekditas Cirba, who won the OIDC Round 2 and finished second in Round 1, emerged overall second in the championship.

Daham, with two second-place podiums in Round 2 and 3, claimed the overall third.

In a neck-and-neck contest for the top honours, Baggsy and Daham gave out their best in the final witnessed by a capacity crowd.

“Tremendous feeling to clinch the championship. It was a challenging contest,” the UK drifter said

“I love this crowd. The fans were really fantastic. Will be back to Muscat for the next edition,” Baggsy added.

Daham said he was pumped up to drift in front of fans in Muscat.

“I feel great energy here. The crowd and the conditions are really brilliant,” the Jordanian drifter said.

Cirba, who has become a sensation with the crowd, said it was an amazing feeling to be part of the OIDC 2022.

“This is a great place for drifting and the crowd support was special. Thanks to the OAA for organizing such a great event,” the Lithuanian said.

AHMED AL AMRI THIRD

Oman’s Ahmed al Amri, who entered the last 16 and lost out to Cirba, finished third in the Mena section for the third round.

For overall Mena championship, Daham and Ali Maksheed of Kuwait repeated their top two performances in the third round.

Oman’s Haitham al Hadidi claimed the overall third.

In the third round semifinals, Daham beat Martin Richards of the UK while Baggsy prevailed over Rostyslav Rarahovskyi of Ukraine.

Baggsy survived a collision with Rarahovskyi after his tyres spun during the second run.

Richards and Rarahovskyi battled it out for the third-place play-off and the Ukrainian missed out in the second run to hand out third spot to the UK drifter.

Richards said it was a challenging contest.

“It was a great challenge to drift in Muscat. I love to come back here for more action.”

Rarahovskyi said it was unfortunate to miss out in the second run.

“I had no clue of the tyre incident in the second run. Unfortunately, I missed out on the crucial moments. Anyway, happy to reach the semifinals,” the Lithuanian drifter said.

Sayyid Said bin Sultan al Busaidi, Undersecretary for Culture at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, was the chief guest for the concluding ceremony.

The chief guest gave away the prizes for the top winners in presence of OAA Chairman Brigadier (retd) Salim Ali al Maskari, OAA Vice-Chairman Brigadier Jamal al Tae and OAA Managing Director Suleiman al Rawahi and other officials.