Bin Huraiz out to consolidate lead
Leads expert category with 156 points as he heads into fourth round of six-race competition
Dubai: The UAE's Al Mur Mohammad Bin Huraiz will be looking to consolidate his position at the top of the standings in the Expert Ski Limited class when the fourth round of the UAE Jet Ski Championship gets underway at Umm Suqeim Beach here on Saturday.
Al Mur, who has been a consistent performer in smaller classes during his career, leads the expert category with 156 points despite a disappointing sixth place in the opening round in January in this six-race championship that is scheduled to end next month.
Al Mur recovered from that initial disappointment to record wins in the second and third rounds to pick up the maximum 120 points and head the standings, just four clear of second-placed Toshi Ohara from Japan.
Fellow UAE jet skiers Omar Abdullah Rashid and Hamdan Rashid Al Qubaisi are keeping pace at 149 and 139 points respectively.
The United Kingdom's James Bouchel will also be out to seal his position at the top of the Pro Runabout GP class after ending three heats with 173 points, but once again it is Ohara who is in pursuit of the leader with 134 points, while Kuwait's Mohammad Ebrahim Bu Rabea is in third place, followed by the UAE duo of Abdullah Nader Bin Hindi and Mohammad Mohsin Ali in fourth and fifth.
Exciting racing
"Looking at the field we can be assured of an exciting round of competition at the Umm Suqeim Beach. All of these riders will be out to consolidate their positions in the championships and that in turn will throw up some exciting racing," said Sid Bin Salah, championship manager.
Action in the Freestyle class too will be engrossing with leader Khalid Salem Butti Al Qubaisi challenged by Japanese Jun Ikoma, while the UAE's Ahmad Saeed Hatim and Ahmad Atiq Al Suwaidi lying in wait for the leaders to slip up.
The Novice Run-about class has the biggest participation with 22 entries and Nawaf Mohammad Al Farhan leading the pack with 113 points, pursued by Jun Ikoma of Japan (103 points) and Abdullah Gulam Ali (101 points) in second and third respectively.
The registration and technical inspection of jet skis will be held between 2 and 5pm today followed by the mandatory briefing for riders at 5.30pm at the DIMC.
Action will be in two sessions for all seven classes tomorrow with the first one starting at 9.45am followed by the second at 2.45pm.
