Al Sulaiti is crowned again QSTK Champion - Al Mutawa winner in QSTK Trophy
Qatar’s Saeed Al Sulaiti clinched for second time in a row the Qatar Superstock 600 title after another thrilling final decided in the last round at Lusail International Circuit In the first race, Mishal Al Naimi, who got the Superpole on Friday, lead the race for the first seven laps but Al Sulaiti overtook him and took the victory. Al Naimi wasn’t feel good during all the week and in the middle of the race, he felt very weak, losing the concentration and finished in fourth place. Abdullah Al Qubaisi finished second and Nasser Al Malki third place.For Al Sulaiti, the second race was more relaxed as he had no pressure as Al Naimi didn’t take part in the race due to his medical problem and he already secured the championship. The second race victory was for Abdullah Al Qubaisi who took his first win in a perfect season for him. Al Sulaiti finished second and the Hungarian rider Balint Kovacs completed the podium.‘There is no word to describe my feelings winning the championship again, it has been very tough season and the performance and results were better than last year, winning more races than last year. When I crashed in round 2 and 4 I thought that the championship would be very difficult and reaching the last round only by 1 point behind Mishal was a lot of pressure but at the end of the day we just focused and took the victory. I want to thank to everyone who stand with me, my team, friend, everyone who was giving me motivation and we worked really good in the set up’ said Al Sulaiti after his victory.‘I am really happy with the overall performance of Abdullah this season. He worked a lot and now he gets all the good results he deserves, winning today race and braking his lap time by 2:04.9 yesterday in the Superpole. For us it took us years to do that and this is amazing and proved that he is really strong and for next year I think we have a new competitor fighting for the championship’ commented Al Sulaiti.‘Thanks to QMMF and Mr. Abdulrahman Al Mannai and to Lusail Circuit Sports Club and Mr. Khalid Al Remaihi for this great championship and their support during the season and to Ooredoo for sponsoring me and believe in me’ Al Sulaiti ended.In the second race, Nasser Al Malki pushed very hard from the beginning of the race and lead until the ninth lap but a mechanical problem with this throttle make him finish fourth in this race.‘I am not very happy at all, because I worked hard all the season to have good feeling with the bike and at the end I manage to have good feeling in the last round. In the last race, I was doing my way and lead the race almost all the race, until the ninth lap but I had a mechanical problem with my throttle and it was dangerous to push so I slow down and finished fourth.Hope for next season I come back stronger and readier than this year and congratulations to Saeed and Mishal for an amazing and hard season and thanks to QMMF and Lusail Circuit Sports Club for the championship and support’ said Al Malki.For Mishal Al Naimi, the season overall was good despite the last results and had to retire from the last race. ‘In general, we did a very good season. Until the last round I had the chance to win the championship as I reach the last round one point ahead of Saeed but in the last round I felt very sick from mid-week and today, in the first race I felt very dizzy and losing my concentration so I said to myself that if I am not able to win the first race, it will be very difficult to do it in the second race. I went to medical center after first race and it was a difficult decision not to take part in the second race as I was not fit enough but don’t want to take any risk for me and for the rest of the riders.Many thanks to QMMF and Lusail Circuit Sports Club for this great championship and to Ooredoo for sponsoring me and support me all this time. Hope to come back in the next season stronger and fight again for the title’ ended Al Naimi.For the young Hungarian rider, Kovacs, this was a great season ‘I am very happy with my performance this season as it is my first time. I found the perfect championship to train in the winter season before I start in the German Championship with 1000cc Suzuki now in mid-April. We decided to come here and race here and this final round with another podium has been great for me and overall, I take a very positive experience. Hope to come back in the next season’ said Kovacs.In the Qatar Superstock Championship, Saeed Al Sulati ended up with 211 points, followed by Misahl Al Naimi second with 180 points and Nasser Al Malki third with 165. Abdullah Al Qubaisi finished in fourth place and Fahad Al Sowaidi and Balint Kovacs fifth and sixth respectively.In QSTK Trophy, the first race was won by Essa Al Mutawa and Jassim Al Thani won the second race. Qatar’s Essa Al Mutawa was crowned the first winner of QSTK Trophy Category in front of Soud Al Thani who finished second and Kuwait rider Mohammad Al Zaidan third overall.Al Mutawa, winner of QSKT Trophy was very happy to be the first winner of this category ‘I am very happy to take the 2017/2018 QSTK Trophy championship. It was a long season for me, specially I stopped two seasons of racing since I came back again. I tried to get back my fitness again and we did it. Next season I will join the QSTK category with the top riders and this will make me work harder and more challenging for me, it will be great. Thanks to QMMF and Lusail Circuit Sports Club for organizing this championship and all the support’ said Al Mutawa.For Soud Al Thani, his performace this weekend was the best of his season ‘ Today’s round was the best of the championship. In terms of hosting it at night was much better than in the day time and regarding my performance this weekend was the best one of all the season. Finally, I was able to secure the second position in the championship as there was no chance to fight for the victory after my crash in the previous round. In the second race there was a possibility to fight for the second position but there was nothing to gain, so I prefer not to risk and finish the race.Kuwait’s Mohammad Al Zaidan was very happy to finish third in his first participation in this championship ‘I am very happy, the season is over now with a great result this last round. I finished third in the first race and second in the second one and overall, I got the third position in the championship of QSTK Trophy so it is a perfect ending for my first season racing in this championship.Trophies were presented by Mr. Abdulrazak Al Kuwari, QMMF General Secretary ‘This year has been very successful for all the participants in both championships. In Qatar Superstock 600 the competition has been stronger between all the riders and became exciting for all the participants in each round as at the beginning of the season the competition in front was between two riders and at the end we witnessed thrilling battles with four riders’ ‘We have seen the participation of foreign riders from Kuwait, Oman, France and Hungary and this makes the championship more challenging and our goal is that for the next season more international riders will join us. For the Qatar Touring Car Championship, we also saw a tough competition with the drivers and we hope that next season we can get more participants’ ‘I want to thanks Lusail Circuit Sports Club for all the support, also thank the Minister of Culture and Sports, HE Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali for all the support in all the seasons and all the riders and drivers that joined this season. Thanks to QMMF and Lusail International Circuit staff for all their work to complete a successful season’ ended Al Kuwari.Mr. Khalid Al Remahi, LCSC Vice President and General Manager, was happy with this season riders’ influx and the growth of championship popularity ‘I want to congratulate all the participants for their great performance, thrilling and exciting show they have put up in this season championship. The number of riders has increased and for next season, one of our objective is to bring more international riders to take part. Thanks to QMMF, Sponsors , Pirelli and the Minister of Culture and Sports for their big and great support to all the season’ commented Al Remaihi.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]