E1 defending champion Mohamed Jaffar of Kuwait won both the races at Golden Beach Sealine to begin the new QMMF Qatar International Endurocross season on a high. In the E2 category, South African rider Wade Den also swept the two races for a big start to his season.
Talking about his win, Jaffar said, “I would like to thank QMMF again and the new president Abdulrahman al-Mannai for all the efforts and for this wonderful event.”
Den, reflecting back on the two races of the day, said, “It was a good start to the season despite having a bad start for the first race. I think I was in the 7th position, but I managed to make some quick passes and bagged the victory. In the second race, I had a good start because I was in the top three right from the beginning. And then when I got my rhythm going, I made some quick passes again and won the second race.”
In the Quad category, defending champion Fahad al-Musallam and Emirati rider Mansoor al-Suwaidi shared victory.
In the over 40-year-old category, Emirati rider Ali Jassim al-Kubaisi bagged the first race and Geoff Den took the second race.
Qatari driver Abdulla Abdulrahman won the QMMF T3 Challenge round 1, ahead of Saud al-Qubaisi in second position and Khalid al-Mohannadi in third.
QMMF president al-Mannai said, “Today was the first event for me as the new QMMF president and also the opening rounds of both Qatar International Endurocross and the T3 (buggy) challenge. I am delighted at the number of participants from all over the Gulf and even as far away as Egypt. Racing was close, and the standard of racing was very high and exciting. We are all looking forward to a very successful season’s competition. I would like to thank all the members of our team for the preparation and execution of today’s event.”