Mishal Alneaimi and Ali Alshammari were dominant on Friday as they each secured an impressive double in their respective championships at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Alneaimi was victorious twice in the second round of the 2016-2017 Bahrain Superbike Championship, while Alshammari claimed the overall victory in both races of round two of the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600.
Tim Birkin and Hussain Karimi shared the honours in the second round of the BIC 2,000cc Challenge.
All three series were in action as part of National Race Day at BIC, held along the circuit’s 2.550km Oasis Track.
In the BSBK, Alneaimi turned a double pole into a pair of fine victories as he extended his unbeaten record in the championship to 16 races held over eight rounds – a run that dates back to his perfect campaign in the inaugural BSBK season in 2015-2016.
Alneaimi lived up to his tag as the favourite and enjoyed a relatively easy win in race one. The Qatari completed the 11-lap sprint in 12 minutes and 32.473 seconds. He was 15.031 seconds ahead of runner-up Aaron Moris from Australia while Mike Edwards from the UK finished in third place, 20.096s behind the winner.
In race two, Alneaimi was once again well ahead of the chasing pack, although he didn’t enjoy as big a winning margin as he did in race one. He triumphed in his weekend’s second event with a time of 12:39.231 – 4.255s clear of Morris at the chequered flag.
Alneaimi’s fellow-Qatari Fahad Alsuwaidi completed the podium placers, 18.657s back.
Both races had a total of 16 riders, each of whom competed on identical Ducati 899 Panigale sports bikes.
Alneaimi’s double was matched by countryman Alshammari in the BMR 600, which featured a total of 17 riders competing over two classes.
In race one, Alshammari, riding a Kawasaki ZX6R, did just enough to clinch a pole-to-flag victory in 13:17.702. He won by a narrow margin of just 0.493s, as chasing not far behind him was Prince Soud Al Thani, who was also riding a Kawasaki ZX6R. Mohammed Adhan Al Zaidan riding a Yamaha R6 claimed third place, 8.902s back.
In race two, Alshammari won by 7.596s after completing the race in 13:16.676. Prince Soud and Al Zaidan were once again the other podium placers. They were each amongst the top three overall in the Super Stock class.
In the Hornets class, where all the competitors were riding identical 600cc Honda Hornet sports bikes, Magnus Mossberg, Pawel Rosciszewski and David Wynne were the top three in both races.
In the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, defending champion Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, driving a white Honda Civic, was the early pacesetter as he clinched pole position for race one.
But a hot start from row two in his white Honda Integra earned Tim Birkin the lead heading into turn one, and the veteran did a masterful job defending first place for the remainder of the race.
Birkin was first engaged in a heated duel with Shaikh Salman as the pair raced bumper-to-bumper over the first five laps. However, Shaikh Salman was forced to retire and that allowed Karimi, driving a yellow Honda CRX, to challenge for the lead.
Birkin did his best to stay in front, and towards the end managed to stretch his winning gap to 2.154 seconds ahead of Karimi after completing the race in 16:12.709. Raed Himmo in a black Honda Civic was third, 5.878s adrift.
In race two, Karimi was starting from the second-to-last row in ninth position alongside Birkin. The pair eventually moved up during the race and this time it was Karimi who claimed the narrow win against Birkin.
Karimi clocked 16:26.038. Only 0.382s separated the pair. Pole-sitter Mohammed Faqihi was third, finishing 17.265s from first.
Meanwhile, also taking place on Friday was a pair of test drives for the TCR Middle East Series, which is set to hold the third and final of its inaugural season at BIC in March 2017.