Dubai: Ahmad Al Maqoodi powered his way to a convincing victory in the cars class at the Emirates Desert Championship as the national rally series continued its record-breaking course through the 2014-15 season.
Al Maqoodi took his Polaris buggy to an impressive win in the second round of the championship, sending a warning to fellow Emirati driver Ahmad Al Fahim that he could face a tough time defending his title.
With Andrey Cherednikov taking second place in a Nissan ahead of Chris Jackson’s Can AM buggy, first round winner Al Fahim had to settle for eighth place in last week’s short course event in the Margham desert, although he still retained his overall lead in the cars title race.
British rider Jake Shipton stole the show in the bikes battle, winning from Kuwaiti rider Mohammed Jaffar over eight laps, although third place for Emirati Mohammad Al Beloushi was just good enough to keep him on top of the overall standings.
It was another landmark day for the Desert Championship, attracting an impressive 135 drivers and riders to shatter the previous best of 100 competitors from the first round three weeks earlier.
The series is organised by the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE) and the Emirates Motor Sport Federation (EMSF), with TAG Heuer Middle East as the official timekeeper and founding partner.
“We have a lot of quality in the championship now and 135 competitors is a big number,” said ATCUAE and EMSF President Mohammad Bin Sulayem.
“Under the direction of the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare I want to thank all of the competitors for helping to make this the biggest national motorsport series in the Middle East.
“The signs are that the number of entries will continue to grow, but our priority will always be on safety, so we may have to restrict entries at some stage in the future.”
Former Polish bikes star Marek Dabrowski took fourth place overall in the cars.
One of the brightest stars on two wheels, Sam Sunderland, went out when he crashed into a dune on the seventh lap while leading from close friend and training partner Shipton, who went on to win.
Finishing third in the quads division behind fellow Emirati Mohammad Al Shamsi and Alex MacFarlane, the UAE’s Humaid Al Mashghouni retained his overall championship lead.
