Fourth place finish for Kazeem Manzur in Italian Open Masters

The fifth and final heat of the prestigious 2007 Italian Open Masters karting championships took place this weekend at the newly refurbished Val Vibrata circuit in Sant’Egidio alla Vibrata, Italy.

The International Open Masters is an FIA authorised karting series and has provided a launch pad for young karters to reach Formula One. Over the course of the past ten years the Masters has seen past winners Robert Kubica and new Formula One sensation Lewis Hamilton reach the pinnacle of motorsport. The 2007 Masters saw the highest number of competitors in its history with 250 karters enrolled from 32 countries in the presence of all the major kart teams and constructors.

15 year-old Chiesa Corse karter Kazeem Manzur entered the weekend supremely confident of success in the KF1 class after a string of excellent results, including a win, in the first half of the year.

In qualifying Kazeem’s progress was hindered by heavy traffic from the offset that unfortunately meant starting from midfield on the grid. Heat 1 saw Kazeem start from 12th position with a 10th place finish while Heat 2 saw him start from 12th place on the grid yet again but a stirring drive resulted in a third place.

Kazeem was to start 8th on the grid for Final 1 with old tyres. Despite this handicap Kazeem fought hard throughout the race and finally finished the first Final in 6th place.

Kazeem started Final 2 with the benefit of brand new tyres. After 4 laps fighting through the talented field, Kazeem took the lead of the race and remained in control for 15 laps despite being under intense pressure from David Fore and Gary Catt. Fore took the lead from Kazeem and Catt, trying to pressure Kazeem into a mistake, tapped him from behind forcing him to run wide. Unfortunately, this meant losing a further place but Kazeem regained his composure and finished in 4th place while also posting the second fastest lap of the race.

Kazeem’s consistently good results throughout the season have ranked him a highly respectable 7th place overall in the final driver standings of the 2007 International Open Masters.

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