Abdulla al-Qubaisi made a clean sweep winning both races during the third round of the Qatar Superstock 600 at the Losail International Circuit yesterday. The young Qatar rider now leads the championship. In the first race, al-Qubaisi, who started from pole, led until the seventh lap before Saeed al-Sulaiti overtook him. Al-Sulaiti managed to control the second part of the race but with two laps to go, al-Qubaisi passed him in the straight line and took the victory by a 0.397 seconds. Mishal al-Naimi, who started second from the grid, finished in third place.
In the second race, al-Qubaisi led the race during the twelve laps and crossed the chequered flag only 0.027 seconds in front of al-Naimi. Al-Sulaiti had to be content with third place.
Al-Qubaisi said: “I am really happy with this round. Last round I had some problems and I finished third, losing some points. So for this round my strategy was to win both races, to get some points and create a gap in the championship.”
Al-Naimi said: “This weekend was very good for me. We pushed a lot but Abdulla deserves both the wins. I want to congratulate all the riders for their performance as they are improving their lap timings. The bike was perfect all the weekend, no problem at all with the tyres and hope I can do better in the next round.”
Al-Sulaiti said: “In the first one, I really had a good rhythm and was ready to fight for the win until the last two laps, where Abdulla overtook me in the straight line and was not possible to pass him in the last sector. In the second race, the start was good but in the beginning I made a mistake in the corner, where I almost lost the front and went wider, so I lost time.  Overall it was not bad but sad to lose the leading championship but still two more rounds to go.”
In the QSTK Trophy, the first place was for Jeremy Parola followed by Rayad al-Emadi and Alexander Qabazard from Kuwait, respectively, in both races.
The third round of the championship also saw a new category – QSTK300 Supersport, where a total of eight riders from 13 to 16-year-old taking part in this round.  The 14-year-old Qatari rider Hamad al-Sahouti, Qatar Motorsports Academy rider, won the seven-lap race.
“It was an amazing race and I am very happy with my result. I started second in the grid but I pushed hard in the first lap and came first. Many thanks to Losail Circuit Sports Club and QMMF for their support,” said al-Sahouti. Yousef al-Darwish, also from Qatar, finished in second place and the French rider Alexian Macary completed the podium. The polesitter man of the race, Saad al-Harqan  didn’t have a good start in the race and crashed in the first lap.
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 fourth round of Qatar Superstock Championship will be held on February 7 and 8.