Gulf Times
Saeed al-Sulaiti won both races during the fourth round of the Qatar Superstock 600 yesterday, to take the championship lead. The defending champion is now five points ahead of Abdulla al-Qubaisi.
At the Losail International Circuit, in the first race, al-Sulaiti, who started from pole led the race until the checkered flag with a total time of 25:07.473. Mishal al-Naimi was second followed by al-Qubaisi. The Bulgarian rider Mihail Florov finished in fourth place with Soud al-Thani in fifth.
In the second race too there was no stopping al-Sulaiti as he cruised to the victory with ease, as al-Qubaisi and al-Naimi swapped their positions in the podium. “I am very happy with my results this weekend. For me, to have a hope to win again the championship, it was a must to win both races. The last three rounds were a bit difficult for me and I was not really ready but for this round, I prepared very well,” al-Sulaiti said.
“I knew that if in the race I could run in the first four laps, it will be difficult for them to catch me. So in the middle of the first race, I created a big gap and in the second race, it was more difficult with the weather but I managed to win,” he added.
Mishal al-Naimi said he had some problems with the bike during the races after he had crashed in the Superpole on Friday. “I started the weekend with the same setup and I didn’t have any problem with the front tire but when I crashed yesterday in the Superpole I changed the bike and it was not perfect at all. In the race, the bike had a good pace but Saeed was the fastest today. Happy to finish second and third and I hope for better results in the last round,” he said.
The double winner of the previous round, Abdulla was not happy with his weekend. “I am not very happy overall. I was not really prepared for this round and Saeed was very fast and very well prepared. Hopefully, I can be stronger in the last round as it will be very difficult,” said al-Qubaisi.
In the QSTK Trophy, Jeremy Parola too the first placed ahead of Rayad al-Emadi and Alexander Qabazard in the first race. In the second, Parola and Emadi repeated the same results but this time the third place went to Hassan al-Mansoori.
In the QSTK 300 Supersport championship, there were two races in this last round. In the first race, Hamad al-Sahouti emerged triumphant, followed by Yousef al-Darwish and Alexian Macary. In the second race, it was a close fight between al-Sahouti and al-Darwish, with the latter coming out victorious. Macary finished again in third place.
The results were enough for al-Sahouti to clinch the overall title. “I am very happy about winning this championship. All the races were amazing with amazing fights. It has been a great experience and I want to thank QMA, Losail Circuit and QMMF for this great opportunity,” said al-Sahouti.
Trophies were presented by Abdulrahman Al-Mannai (QMMF President), Khalid al-Remahi (LCSC Vice President and General Manager) and Abdulrazak al-Kuwari (QMMF General Secretary)
The fifth and last round of the Qatar Superstock Championship will be held on March 13th & 14th as a support race for the Superbike World Championship.