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Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Ahmed Almuyini dominated the final round of National Race Day at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), held over the weekend in Sakhir.
Shaikh Salman clinched both races in the BIC 2,000cc Challenge while Almuyini swept through the sprints in the Bahrain Superbike Championship (BSBK) and the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600.
Hussain Al Aswad also had reason to celebrate, winning the meeting’s lone race in the Bahrain Super Sport Championship (BSSP).
All the action took place around BIC’s 2.550km Inner Track.
Shaikh Salman enjoyed virtually a perfect weekend, topping the times in practice and securing pole position for race one during qualifying before securing his fantastic double. Driving a Honda Civic, he won the opening 12-lap challenge in a total race time of 15 minutes 43.511 seconds.
He finished 2.007 seconds ahead of Ahmed Bin Khanen and 14.857s in front of Tareq Al Tajer, who was driving a Ford Focus. Raed Himmo in another Civic, Tim Bikin and Nasser Al Alawi in a Honda S2000 rounded out the top six.
Shaikh Salman posted the sprint’s fastest lap of 1:17.391 en route to victory.
In race two, after starting from seventh on the grid, Shaikh Salman completed his double in 15:54.966. Bin Khanen was again the runner-up 1.359s back, while Al Alawi claimed the final podium place of the season, a distant 20.612s from first place. Birkin, Al Tajer and Mohamed Faqihi in another Civic completed the top six.
Shaikh Salman once again had the race’s best lap, clocking an ultra-quick 1:16.325.
Meanwhile, Almuyini was in a class of his own as he took on the competition in both the BSBK and the BMR 600. In the BSBK, he captured the race one chequered flag after 11 laps in 12:52.346 – a narrow 1.252s ahead of Salman Khalaf, who had recorded the fastest lap of 1:09.422 in the event. In third was Saska Totaro 6.592s behind. Wesley Pearce, Kyle Martin and Masoud Behbehani completed the top six from nine competitors.
In the second race, Almuyini set the best lap for the sprint at 1:09.078 and led the same trio onto the podium. He won in 12:54.346, again with a small gap of 1.354s between Khalaf. Totaro came third 3.594s behind, followed by Pearce, Martin and Behbehani.
In the BMR 600, Almuyini won the first 11-lap race in 12:56.087. He finished well clear of the field as Mohammad Al Zaidan took the runner-up spot 8.822s behind, with Nasser Al Khadra claiming third 23.286s back. All three top placers were competing in the Super Stock category.
Amongst the Hornet class riders, Abdullah Al Banai led Ali Abdulhussain and Ahmad Abdulsalam onto the podium.
In race two, Almuyini won in 12:58.756 – 6.592s ahead of Al Zaidan. Ibrahem Alsharida was third 23.479s from first. The Hornet top three included Al Banai, Abdulsalam and Abdulhussain from first through third, respectively.
Almuyini had the fastest laps in both BMR 600 races. The first was at 1:09.164 while the second was 1:09.778.
In the BSSP, Alaswad led all the way from practice to qualifying and won the sole eight-lap race in 13:07.317. Georges Mokbel was second 3.512s back and Yusuf Qaed third 25.200s adrift.
Following all the action, the winners of each championship were presented their trophies in a podium ceremony attended by officials from BIC, the Bahrain Motor Federation, the Circuit Racing Club and the Bahrain Motorcycle Club.
