Doha: There were no surprises in the fourth and final round of the Qatar International Endurocross, which was held at Sealine yesterday.
Meshary Abou Shaibah and Jake Preston clinched the titles in the E1 and E2 category respectively.
In the veterans category, the title went to Yannic Le Gouvernec and the quads crown was won by Mohammed Al Kulaifi.
In the E2 category, Jake Preston took the two wins yesterday to edge out Mohammed Jaffar who came second in the championship.
“I am very happy, I had the two wins in Enduro today and I got the title, thanks to KTM Kuwait for their support and to QMMF for making this great series and definitely I will be back next season,” Preston said after his victories.
Kuwaiti rider Jaffar was happy with his performance. In the first E2 race, Jaffar had a tough time, crashing twice to finish fourth. But in the second race, he made a great race and took second place.
“I am so happy to be second in this tough championship, especially because this is my first time in the E2 class,” he said after the podium ceremony and also thanked his coach Mohammed Al Balooshi and his sponsors. Emirati rider Mohammed Al Balooshi finished third in the championships.
Yesterday, too, he was third in both races. “In the first race, I made the holeshot but I made a mistake and Jake passed me. Then Jaffar was right behind me and I heard his bike and from the sound I knew he crashed, so I looked behind and I made another mistake and I crashed, so then Ben came and passed me. I stayed behind him trying to catch him but it was not enough,” he said.
“In the second race I was first again but in the second corner, because of the quad line, I made a mistake and crashed. Jaffar and Jake passed me and I stayed in third position until the end.”
In the E1 category, Kuwait’s Meshari Abou Shaibah emerged as the comprehensive winner of the championship.
“I want to first thank the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation for the great championship and with my two wins of today, I got the championship after working so hard this season for the title. My next plans are more hard training in the US with my coach Denis Stapleton and be back in the next season,” Abou Shaibah said after the races.
His fellow Kuwaiti, Moath Al Ansari, finished in second place in the E1 category followed by Saeed Al Shenqiti who ended in third place.
In the veterans category, Frenchman Yannic Le Gourvenec won his category and Mubarak Al Ali and Saif Al Kumiti, both from UAE came, second and third respectively.
In the quads category, the victory went to Mohammed Al Kulaifi from Kuwait.
“I am so glad and happy to win the championship after the four rounds. Thanks to Yamaha, Kuwait racing team,” Al Kulaifi said after the race.
Second place in the quads category went to Fahad Al Musallam from Kuwait and Abdulla Nasser from UAE was third
In the two quads races yesterday, Qatari rider Mohammed Abu Issa won easily, but the 50 points were not enough for the Qatar quad star to be on the podium for the championship.
Abu Issa missed the first round of the champioship due to his participation in Dakar 2015 and finished in fifth position in the championship.
QMMF President and FIM Deputy President Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah was very happy with the final results of the Qatar International Endurocross.
“First of all I would like to thank to all the competitors and teams for their participation in this championship. The level of the riders is increasing and in every round we can see that the competition is stronger and harder so we hope to have more entries in the next championship,” he said. THE PENINSULA
