Thrilling last round of QSTK600 where Al Sulaiti takes the third title in a row
Qatar’s Saeed al-Sulaiti clinched the Qatar Superstock 600 title for the third time in a row after an exciting last round at Lusail International Circuit on Saturday.
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 Mishal 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 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 finished only in the top three , he 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 Mishal 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’ said Al Sulaiti.
‘In the 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.
Younger 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.
Regarding 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 the QSTK category’ stated Al Thani
Kuwaiti rider Al Zaidan, who finished second overall in his category hopes to get the title next season ‘I am very happy to finish second in the QSTK Trophy championship. In the first race I took the victory and in the second race I finished second. Last year I took the third place in the championship and this year the second, so hopefully next season I can be the winner’ said Al Zaidan
At the end of the season, Mr. Khalid Al Remaihi (LCSC Vice President and GM) 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 join our championship and with his good performance and good results with podiums, makes our championship better. 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’ said Al Remaihi.
Trophies were presented by Mr. Stephan Carapiet (FIM ASIA President), Stan Yasuhiro (FIM ASIA Deputy President) , Abdulrahman Al Mannai (QMMF President) and Khalid Al Remaihi (LCSC Vice President and GM)