Australia's Alex Cudlin (centre), Qatar's Mishal al-Naimi (left) and Nasser al-Malki pose on the podium.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Australian rider and five-time champion Alex Cudlin started his new season with a bang, winning both the races of the opening round of the 2015 /2016 Qatar Superbike Championship held on Saturday at Losail International Circuit.
In humid conditions, the defending champion managed to win both races, overcoming a tough battle with runner-up of last season, Mishal al-Naimi, who finished second in both races yesterday.
In the first race, even though Cudlin started from pole position, al-Naimi managed to lead the race for the first four laps. But the Australian overtook the Qatari rider in the fifth lap and held on to the lead until the end, finishing only 0.887 second ahead of Mishal.
The Qatari had some problems with his bike in the qualifying session and he had to race with his second bike that didn’t have a perfect set up.
The third position went to Nasser al-Malki, who made a great start as he was last in the grid and managed to be in fourth place in the very second lap. Al-Malki was in fourth place for almost the whole race, before overtaking Nina Prinz to finish on the podium. Saeed al-Sulaiti finished fifth behind Prinz. Al-Sulaiti had some problems during practice but managed to set up the bike on the race day.
For Cudlin, the second race was much better as he won it comfortably ahead of al-Naimi with a gap of 9.985 seconds. Al-Naimi continued to have problems with his bike and finished second again in the race. Qatari rider al-Sulaiti was once again in third place.
Cudlin hailed his ‘perfect’ start to the season. “I am very happy with the results. Obviously to win the two races is perfect for the championship. It is the way we wanted to start .The bike is a bit slower in the straight compared to Mishal and we need to fix this for the next round to be stronger. The chassis of the bike is perfect, the handling of the bike is very good and the team did a perfect job,” Cudlin said after winning the races.
Mishal was pleased to come second, having had to encounter problems with his bike. “I had some problems with my bike in the Qualifying and today I had to ride with another bike that had a problem with the gear box. I couldn’t go faster because of the problem and fight close to Alex. For the next round, I will try to fix the gear box and try to push for the win. Thanks to Ooredoo for their support and to QMMF for the championship,” al-Naimi said.
In the newly introduced Veterans Superbike category, Irish Suzuki rider Paul Etherton, who finished seventh overall, won the inaugural race. British riders Martin Bexon and Mark Schulz ended in second and third place respectively in the Veterans podium. Etherton also was the best veteran rider in the second race, finishing ahead of Schulz, who came second this time. Kuwaiti rider Mujahed al-Khashram was third.
“I am absolutely thrilled,” said Etherton. “I knew that in the main race it will be difficult to be on the podium but with this new category it is a great idea as it encourages more riders to join the championship and ride with us.
"Both races were very good and I am very pleased for West Bay Racing and sponsors to be able to provide them with these two wins. I want to thank QMMF for their great organisation of this championship. I would like to thank the President Mr Nasser al-Attiyah for his support for realising the Veterans Challenge as it is a great concept,”’ Etherton said.
Trophies were presented by Sheikh Atbi al-Sabah (Kuwait Quarter Mile Club Representative), Mohamed Saad al-Morraikhi (QMMF General Secretary) and Salah bin Eidan, Manager SIRBB Circuit Kuwait.
The next round of Qatar Superbike will be held on 16th & 17th October as the support race of the World Superbike Championship Qatar Round.
Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah, QMMF President, LIC General Manager and FIM Deputy President was delighted with the smooth start of the new season. “I would like to thank all the riders and teams for participating in this championship. Today is the beginning of the season and we are very happy to accommodate everyone again. We are very excited to have this championship started with more motivation from the teams and riders and for sure there will be a good action and good challenge between the riders .
“With the changes in this season, the split of the two categories, 1000cc and 600cc will give more accurate challenge to all the races. So we don’t have too many riders at the same time and too much traffic on the track and avoid any accident,” the QMMF President said.
