Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) hosted a thrilling National Racing Day on Friday, with five competitors kick starting the new season with impressive victories in their respective championships.
Mishal Alneaimi was the star of the night, winning both races in the Bahrain Superbike Championship (BSBK).
Mohammed Faqihi and Hussain Karimi shared the honours in the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, while James Webster and Ali Alshammari won a race each in the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600.
All the action was held under floodlights along the 2.55-kilometre Inner Track at BIC. The meeting was organised by BIC in cooperation with the Bahrain Motor Federation, Circuit Racing Club and the Bahrain Motorcycle Club.
In the BSBK, Alneaimi headed into the season-opener looking to start from where he left off last season, when he was crowned the series’ first-ever title winner with an undefeated record in 12 races. But it was clear from the lights that the Qatari was not going to be cruising to any easy victories this year, as Aussie rival Aaron Moris and Briton Mike Edwards quickly showed that they were the ones to look out for.
Despite winning pole position, Alneaimi opted to save his tyres and run behind Moris and Edwards for the first few laps. Midway through, he and then-leader Moris were only tenths-of-a-second apart until the defending champion overtook his rival with three laps to go.
Alneaimi eventually pulled away from the pack and claimed the chequered flag in a winning time of 12 minutes 41.223 seconds. He enjoyed a 6.058 second gap ahead of Moris, while Edwards was classified third 13.563s adrift.
From fourth through eighth place, respectively, were Fahad Alsuwaidi, Ali Al Shammari, Wesley Pearce, Ahmed Almuyin and Mohamoud Tannir.
In race two, an early mistake from Alneaimi saw him fall to the middle of the field but he did well to fight back and gain position lap after lap. He took over as leader on lap seven after also clocking his personal best lap time of 1:07.842.
Alneaimi staved off a hard challenge to the finish from Moris, who ended the race just 1.576s behind. Edwards was third 14.290s back, and the top three led the same eight riders in the same order from race one.
With his first round double, Alneaimi has made it 14 victories in a row in the BSBK, dating back to the season-opener of last season.
Resounding
Friday’s BSBK first round featured 15 riders in both races.
In the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, Faqihi clinched a resounding victory in race one. Driving his Honda CIVIC, he won in a total race time of 16:06.148 and was 2.564s ahead of Hussain Karimi in a Honda CRX. Defending champion Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa was third 3.118s back. He too was driving a CIVIC.
In race two, Karimi battled from his starting position in the back row to triumph in 16:13.676. Shaikh Salman finished in second place 4.330s behind, while Birkin claimed third place 18.356s from the winner.
Ashkanani, Priester and Faqihi followed. There were nine competitors in all in the 2,000cc Challenge’s first meeting.
The BMR 600 field saw the weekend’s largest number of riders competing, with 19 in all in both races.
Webster won race one, which he completed in 13:38.393. Mohammed Al Ateeqi was in second place 3.388s behind, and Mohammed Al Zaidan was third 5.677s from the winner.
Soud Al Thanai, Nawaf Al Shuaibi, Ali Adiby, Adel Najjar and Mohammed Al Eidi rounded out the top eight, who were all competing in the BMR’s Super Stock class.
Martijn Heemskerk was the winner in the Hornets class. David Wynne was second and Pawel Rosciszewski finished third.
In race two, Alshammari triumphed in 13:32.441. Al Thani claimed the runner-up podium step 0.477s behind, while Al Zaidan was third 5.378s back. Webster was fourth and Al Ateeqi fifth, while Al Shuaibi, Najjar and Nasser Al Khadra were also in the top eight overall and in the Super Stock.
Heemskerk led the same trio on the podium for the Hornets class.