Top three riders of the QSTK600 Championship, Saeed Al Sulaiti, Abdulla Al Qubaisi and Mashel Al Naimi pose for a photograph with FIM ASIA President Stephan Carapiet, Deputy President Stan Yasuhiro, Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation President Abdulrah
Qatar’s Saeed Al Sulaiti clinched the Qatar Superstock 600 title for the third time in a row after an exciting last round at Losail International Circuit yesterday.
Saeed Al Sulaiti and Abdulla Al Qubaisi flighted for the title until the last moment of the championship. Al Sulaiti took the victory in the first race and Al Qubaisi won the second race and at the end, both of them finished with the same points in the standings, 214. As both of them also finished with the same number of victories, what decided the title for Al Sulaiti was that he got the first Superpole of the season.
In the first race, Al Sulaiti, who had topped Superpole on Friday, led the race for the first three laps trying to create a gap but Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Mashel Al Naimi were close to him. In the middle of the race, only Al Qubaisi stayed behind Al Sulaiti and both of them were passing each other several times but at the end Al Sulaiti took the victory only by a 0.050s gap.
The third place in the podium was for the Hungarian rider Balint Kovacs.
In the second race, Mashel Al Naimi and Abdulla Al Qubaisi were fighting and overtaking each other until the end of the race and as Saeed had to finish only in the top three and didn’t want to take any risk. At the end,
Al Qubaisi took the victory with Al Naimi in second place. Al Sulaiti secured the championship title with the third place.
Al Sulaiti was very happy with his third win in a row.
“I am very happy to win the third title in a row, it was not easy. This year it was really difficult, at the beginning of the championship I thought it will be easier. The first race was very difficult, one of my toughest races. In the first three laps I tried to run away but I noticed that Mashel and Abdulla were behind me and then after five laps, I just saw Abdulla and me in front, I tried to change my strategy and let Abdulla to go in front of me but he was smart enough not to accept and stayed behind me,” Al Sulaiti said.
“In race 2 , I just had to finish in the top three to win the championship. I decided to cross the finish line safely and win the championship. I want to congratulate Abdulla for the great season and thanks to Ooredoo for sponsoring me and to QMMF and LCSC for organising such an amazing championship’ ended Al Sulaiti.
Young rider Al Qubaisi did a great season and impressed with his performance in the last half of the season, fighting until the last moment to get the title.
“Overall, this season was great for me, I improved a lot from the beginning of the season. We finished the season in a good way, second place in the first race and a win in the second one. I want to thank first of all my coach, Saeed, without him I will not finish in this position and also to QMMF and LCSC for organising this great championship. Now, it is time to focus in the Spanish championship that will start in 2 weeks and for the next QSTK season I will not give up to win the championship,” said Al Qubaisi.
The third position in the championship was for Mashel Al Naimi, who finished with a total of 173 points.
“It was a difficult season, I tried to win one race this weekend but this year it was very tough between Saeed and Abdulla, they deserve the win and for next year I will try to be readier. Many thanks to my sponsor Ooredoo and to QMMF and LCSC for organising this championship and to everybody that makes this championship every season better,” said Al Naimi.
In the QSTK Trophy, Mohammad Al Zaidan took the victory in the first race and Jassim Al Thani in the second race.
In the championship standings for QSTK Trophy, Al Thani got the title with 245 points and Al Zaidan finished with 205. The third place was for Hassan Al Mansoori with 130 points.
Al Thani, was very happy with his performance in this season .
“This season was a great success for me as I won the championship of QSTK Trophy. In this round, I couldn’t win the first race but I did it in the second race to wrap up the season with a podium. I am really looking forward for next year to join the QSTK category,” Al Thani said.
Khalid Al Remaihi, Vice President and General Manager of Losail Circuit Sports Club (LCSC), was very happy with the performance of all the riders and the success of the championships.
“We have witnessed an exciting QSTK600 championship where until the end we didn’t know who will get the title. Our young generations are pushing very hard as we can see with the close battle between Al Sulaiti and Al Qubaisi so we are on the good way to help the young riders to achieve good results.
“Also, we are very happy with the participation of a good number of Kuwaiti riders and also from Europe. This is the second season that the Hungarian rider Balint Kovacs joined our championship and with his good performance and good results with podiums, makes our championship better,” Al Remaihi said.
“In the QTCC championship, we have seen that the newcomer drivers are pushing also very hard and the second and third place of the championship have been for drivers that never participated before,” Al Remaihi said.
Apart from Al Remaihi, FIM ASIA President Stephan Carapiet, Deputy President Stan Yasuhiro and Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation President Abdulrahman Al Mannai were also present at the presentation ceremony.
