Podium winners of Race One in E2 category.
DOHA: Sam Sunderland in his first participation in the Qatar International Enduro won both races with an excellent performance in the second round, which was participated by 29 riders at Sealine, yesterday.
Sunderland led the first race in E2 category from the beginning and gave no chance to the other competitors to follow his pace.
He crossed the checkered flag with a gap of 3.18 with United Arab Emirates (UAE) KTM rider Mohammed Al Balooshi in second place.
Speaking at the end of the first race, Britain’s Sunderland said: “I just finished my first race in Qatar and it was a really good race, nice layout of the track with some fast areas and technical places with nice mixture of terrain.”
He added: “I had a lot of fun, my Honda bike is really good.”
Third position was UAE’s KTM rider Saeed Al Shenqiti.
In the second race, the podium finishes were exactly the same as the first race, with Sunderland leading from the start to the end.
Al Balooshi and Al Shenqiti finished in second and third place respectively again.
Tycho Lieske of Germany, won the E1 category with his Yamaha bike, while Le Roy Botha of South Africa and Abdullah Al Shatti finished second and third respectively in the first race.
In the second race, Kuwaiti rider Mohammed Jaffar triumphed and was happy with his performance.
Jaffar said: “I gave everything in the second race after the mistake in Race One. Thanks to Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), my team Balooshi Racing and Future Tech Engeneering for their support. It was a very tough race at the beginning but I am very happy to win in my category and it is an honour to ride behind my coach Al Balooshi who is in E2 category. I hope to keep the level in the next round.”
Botha and Al Shatti, finished second and third respectively.
Abdulla Nasser Al Ali of UAE with a Suzuki quad triumphed in the first race of the quads category. Al Ali thanked QMMF for the organisation of this championship and the good track.
Al Ali said: “I am happy for the race, I had a hard battle with my team-mate Obaid Al Ketbi and I hope more participants will come in the next rounds.”
In the second race, UAE’s Al Ketbi won the quads category race.
QMMF President, Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiya expressed his happiness with the level of the competitors and the number of participants.
He thanked the riders for participating and was very satisfied to see that they enjoyed taking part in this championship. THE PENINSULA
