Sam Sunderland of Britain is seen prior to his race in the E2 category of the Qatar International Enduro at Sealine yesterday. Sunderland who won both races in the second round last week, repeated his triumph again in both races. CENTRE: Obeid Al Kitbe of UAE in action during a race. Al Kitbe won both his races. RIGHT: Mohammed Al Balooshi of UAE takes a bend in the E2 category.
DOHA: Honda rider Sam Sunderland won both races of the third round of Qatar International Enduro in the E2 category at Sealine in Doha yesterday.
In the E1 category, Abdullah Al Shatti won the first race and Le Roy Botha won the second race.
In the first race in E2 category, Sunderland won with a 3.23.127 time gap from KTM rider Mohammed Al Balooshi who came second.
The British rider led the whole race from the beginning to the checkered flag.
Speaking after the first race at Sealine yesterday, Sunderland said: “The track was different compared to the last weekend, with beautiful views, as the sea and tide is coming into the dunes so it was very nice to see while you are riding.”
UAE rider Al Balooshi was happy to settle in second spot after not fully recovering from his injury he had sustained in Bahrain two weeks ago.
Moaath Al Ansari from Kuwait also with a KTM bike finished third. Sunderland triumphed in the second race, with an indentical podium finish in the first race.
“The race was tougher than last weekend with a lot of tricky corners and section. I am happy to finish in third place after fighting very close with my team-mate Saeed Al Shenqiti,” said Al Ansari.
In the E1 category, there was an entertaining battle for the victory between Al Shatti and Botha from South Africa.
Both riders were alternating positions but in the last corners, Al Shatti passed Botha and won the category.
Al Shatti was delighted to win this race as these points are very important for the championship.
In the quad category, UAE’s Obaid Al Kitbe finished first in both races.
In the second race in the E1 category, Botha triumphed with second place Al Shatti and Hasan Nooraldin completing the podium yesterday.
After his victory in the second race, Botha said: “This time the track was very different than last round as it was more soft sand and more difficult for the 250cc bikes but for the corners it was perfect.”
He added: “I feel better than last week and very happy with the overall result. In the first race, I battled with Al Shatti, I felt down and he took me about four corners but it was my fault. In the second race, I nearly got taken out in the first corner but I was lucky to get through, so I just rode my own race, kept the same pace and finished first.”
Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) President, Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah thanked all the participants for taking part in the event and was happy with the level of the competitors and the number of participants in this championship.
In the championship standings, Al Shatti is leading the E1 category with 137 points. Mubarak Al Ali is second with 104 points and Barak Al Jasmi is third with 103 points.
Al Balooshi with 135 points is leading the E2 category. Al Ansari is second with 105 points and Sunderland is third with 100 points.
The fourth and last round of the season will be on December 7.
THE PENINSULA
