Doha: The third round of Qatar SuperBike and Losail Asia Road Racing Series will take place this weekend at Losail International Circuit, tomorrow and December 20.
The defending champion, Alex Cudlin, is leading the championship with 91 points, only 6 points ahead of Mishal Al Naimi, who is second with 85 points.
In this third round, there will be three wild card riders that will join the event and all of them are Moto2 riders in the World MotoGP Championship: Ramos, Julian Simon and Anthony West.
“I am looking forward to Round 3, it is important that I continue to lead the championship after this round as I have 6 points lead over Mishal, so it is very close.”
This weekend we have the Moto2 riders Simon, West and Ramos, so this could work against me or work for me, if I can beat them I will make a good points gap, or if they beat me then it is a different story, but it is nice that they are here to race because it is good for the championship. For sure there will be a good fight and hopefully I can walk away with both wins, but we’ll see how it goes,” said Cudlin.
The Spanish rider Roman Ramos has been a rider in the QMMF Racing Team in Moto2 this last season.
“I am excited to come back to Doha but also I have a bit of uncertainly to see what I can do with the 1000cc bike as it will be my second time that I ride this type of bike.
“I am really looking forward to start riding on Friday and I am very happy to be here again with my team of this season. I do want to enjoy this weekend and try to make a good result’ stated Ramos.”
Julian Simon, also Spanish, is the new team-mate of Anthony West for the next season in the QMMF Racing Team.
“I am very happy to participate in this round of QSBK and ride for first time a 1000cc bike. It is a great honor for me to compete in this championship and I will try to do my best and get a great results for my new team.
“Regarding the new coming season in Moto2 my motivation is higher, we already made some milage with the new chassis Speed Up and we have a lot of information to be able to be ready for the start of the season , and specially when the first round of the championship is here, in Qatar,” said Julian Simon.
The other wild card, Anthony West, took part last season in one round of the QSBK where he won both races.
The German rider Nina Prinz is third in the championship with 53 points, only two points more than Saeed Al Sulaiti who is fourth with 51 points.
In the Losail Asian Road Racing Series, the Hungarian rider Victoria Kis, second in the standings, has a great opportunity to take the lead in the championship as the leader, Manca Katrasnik will miss this round.
For this round, the schedule will be day time, with Free practices tomorrow at 12:20 and 2:40pm.
The qualifying session and Superpole are scheduled at 2:50pm and 4:30pm tomorrow. On Saturday, the first race will be at 12:20 and the second race at 2:50pm.
Regarding the Qatar Challenge, it will be the second round of the season. Tim Stevens is leading the championship with 26 points and Peter De Vido is second with 20 points.
Free Practice will be held tomorrow at 13:15 and the qualifying will be at 2:50pm. Qatar Challenge race is on Saturday at 1:30pm. Grandstand is free open to the public.
The Peninsula
