Australia’s Alex Cudlin (centre) celebrates in the podium after clinching the Qatar Superbike Championship title at Losail. Qatar’s Mishal al-Naimi (left) won both the races in the last round but finished second in the overall championship.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Mishal al-Naimi had a great weekend in the last round of the Qatar Superbike Championship, winning both the races but it wasn’t enough to stop Australian rider Alex Cudlin from clinching the title for the fifth time in a row.
In the last round, Cudlin finished third and second to end the championship with 255 points, ahead of al-Naimi (248 points). The third place in the championship went to Nasser al-Malki, while Nina Prinz ended in fourth position.
In the first race, al-Naimi, who was on pole, lead the race during the first three laps but al-Malki managed to overtake him. However, with only four laps to go, al-Naimi regained the lead and crossed the checkered flag in first place.
Al- Malki was second with 2.447 seconds difference while Cudlin came in third place and the German rider Nina Prinz fourth. Saeed al-Sulaiti had a crash in the first lap and had to abandon his race and also could not start the second race.
Al-Naimi also won again in the second race, as he lead from pole to finish. Cudlin finished in second position with a difference of 1.835 seconds. Prinz and al-Malki were battled for the third spot, with the latter piping her to podium in the very last lap.
“I am happy to win my fifth QSBK championship. It has been a very hard but an amazing season. In the round 3 we suffered a lot due to some mechanical failures and the rest of the season we tried to reduce the gap with Mishal to finally win the championship today,” Cudlin said.
In the Supersport category, the Qatari rider Fahid al-Sowaidi won both the race, followed by compatriot Essa al-Mutawa in the first race and Jassim al-Thani in the second. Lebanese Mahmoud Tannir was third in the first race, while Essa al Mutawa took the podium in the next.
Jassim al-Thani, with 240 points, won the championship, while Tannir came second overall with 217 points. Sowaidi, who changed to Supersport category in the middle of the season, with four victories and four second place finishes, was third with 180 points.
The trophy for the Rookie of the year went to Saudi rider Ahmed al-Muyini, who ended the championship in 8th place with 87 points.
The trophies were presented by the QMMF Public Relations Manager Khaleh Saleh al-Attiyah, QMMF General Secretary Mohamed Saad al-Morraikhi and Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah, the QMMF President, LIC General Manager and FIM Deputy President.
Final standings
Qatar Superbike Championship
Alex Cudlin (AUS) Kawasaki 255 pts
Mishal al-Naimi (QAT) Honda 248 pts
Nasser al-Malki (QAT) BMW 181 pts
Nina Prinz (GER) Kawasaki 167 pts
Anthoy West (AUS) Kawasaki 150 pts
Saeed al-Sulaiti (QAT) Kawasaki 143 pts
Rajini Krishnan (IND) Suzuki 109 pts
Ahmed al-Muyuni (KSA) BMW 87 pts
Supersport Category
Jassim al-Thani (QAT) Triumph240 pts
Mahmoud Tannir (LEB) Honda217 pts
Fahid al-Sowaidi (QAT) Honda180 pts
Nasser al-Khadra (KUW) Yamaha 168 pts
Abdulaziz Binladin (KSA) BMW150 pts