A group of female riders who featured in round three races of Qatar Superbike Championship (QBSK).
DOHA: Australian rider Alex Cudlin won both races in the third round of Qatar Superbike QSBK) at Losail International Circuit yesterday.
In both races, the podiums were secured by Cudlin, followed by Qatar’s Mashal Al Naimi and compatriot Nasser Al Malki.
In a dominating performance, Cudlin stormed to win race one a massive 8.054 seconds ahead of Honda rider Al Naimi.
Malki, who had some problems with his BMW S1000RR, finished third in both races.
Qatar’s Saeed Al Sulaiti finished in fourth spot in race one.
“I am very happy with the race. The result was what we planned,” Cudlin said.
“At the beginning, I was able to create a gap on the first three laps and maintain it,” the Australian added. “I managed to look behind to see where Mishal, Saeed and Nasser were and I got to increase the lead to 10 seconds, and from there, I stayed in front until the end. For sure in the second race, Nasser and Mishal were faster,” Cudlin added.
Al Naimi said: “I am happy with the result as yesterday I was very slow in the free practice but in the qualifying session I changed the tyres and it was better. But today I found the bike too hard at the beginning and I tried to follow the other riders but I couldn’t go faster than my normal pace. In the last 5 laps I felt the bike working better and I got to secure the second place.”
Al Malki, who faced engine problems, said: “I had various problems with my bike and I almost crashed several times, so I slowed down my rhythm all the race and try to make a smooth race. My bike was not available to fight so I kept my speed and line to finish in the podium. I hope we can fix it for the second race.
German rider Nina Prinz suffered a crash on her Suzuki bike on turn 10 in the middle of the race but fortunately she managed to join again and ended in 8th position.
In the LARRS category, Chinese rider Yuan Jibo topped the race despite finishing in ninth spot in race one. The second place in the LARRS podium was secured by Yasas Rahmat
The trophies after race one were given by Rashid Al Sulaiti, QMMF Public Relations Manager and Bambang Guinardi.
In the second race, Cudlin also took the lead from the start and gave no chance to the other riders to overtake him. The results in the podium were the same as in race 1 with Cudlin in the front with Al Naimi and Al Malki second and third respectively.
“It was a really good race. I knew that if I lead the race from the beginning I could win the race easily, by long distance. I didn’t want to fight in the beginning of the race, so I made my move in the corner 10 in the first lap,” Cudlin said.
In the LARRS, the first place was won by the Indonesian rider Rahmat and second place was for Jibo from China. Manca Katrasnik ended again third on the podium.
The trophies were given by Sultan Al Morraikhi (QMMF Board Member), Rashid Al Sulaiti, QMMF Public Relations Manager and Ali Dagher, FIM Asia Vice President.
QMMF President Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah said: “First of all I would like to thank all the participants that took part today in our championship and I am very happy to see that the more riders coming from different nationalities.”
Al Attiyah added: “Also, I am pleased to see that more women are participating in the events and their performance is of very high level. We, at QMMF, support women and we are delighted to host next week the 1st Women in Motorsport Seminar in Middle East that will take place together with the opening round of the 2014 FIA Middle East Rally Championship, the Qatar International Rally.”
THE PENINSULA
