E Kanoo Racing set a pair of new world records during the penultimate round of the 2016/2017 Bahrain Drag Racing Championship-Arabian Pro Serie, held over the weekend at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Bahraini Khaled Mohammed registered a new world’s best in the Super Street V8 category, while American drag racer Gary White matched his teammate’s accomplishment with his own in the Outlaw 6-Cylinder class.
Both drivers set their new records enroute to claiming victories in their respective categories.
Steve Jackson of Bahrain1Racing, known as ‘Stevie Fast’, was also triumphant again in the highly-competitive Pro Mod class.
In the Super Street V8 category, Mohammed made a brilliant pass of 3.984 seconds in the final against Kuwaiti Abdulla Al Shati at a speed of 322.58kph. It was the first-ever time for a car in this category to dip into the three second-mark.
Al Shati could only manage a time of 4.272s at 275.45kph as he settled for second place.
Meanwhile, White enjoyed his own record-breaking success in E Kanoo Racing’s stock chassis GT86 in the Outlaw 6-Cylinder. White ran a quick 6.494s at 355.49kph, on a 29.5/10.5 tyre with no wheelie bar.
White defeated a valiant Yousif Al Zayani, who finished second in the class with a run of 7.039s in the final at 324.53kph.
In the Pro Mod category, Bahrain1Racing’s Jackson claimed a narrow win over teammate Khaled Al Belooshi of the UAE. Driving a 1969 Chevy Camaro, Jackson clocked a winning time of 3.687 seconds at 323.34kph. He pipped Al Belooshi, who completed the quarter-mile run in 3.694s at 326.49kph.
Jackson also shined in the previous round of the championship, winning the same class while setting a new world record at the time.
Salah Salahuddin was another big winner. The veteran Bahraini racer claimed the Street V8 category with a pass of 7.726s at 291.64kph in the final, defeating Kuwaiti Mohamed Sulyman who had marks of 7.602s at 286.56kph. In the Outlaw 10.5 category, Bahraini Khaled Sayef took first in 4.957s, leaving Nabeel Al Isa behind him.
Elsewhere, amongst the cars classes, Mohammed Al Jalahmag won the Street 4 and 6 category against Hani Hashim in the final; Mohamed Mubarak won the Outlaw Front-Wheel-Drive after beating Jasim Qamber; Hamed Al Murbati beat Sayed Yahya Sharf to win the Super Street 6-Cylinder; Nasser Ashattii beat Jaber Almagrabi to win the Competition 4.5; Hussain Hassan won against Sayed Hussain in the Index 8.5; Mohammed Jawad beat Ali Abdulla Mohammed in the Index 9.5 and Suliman Dawood overcame Suliman Fadel by a hundredth of a second to win the Index 10.5 class.
Amongst the bikes, Meshal Al Saber beat Nawaf Aldossary in the Pro Bike category, Mesfer al Mesfer defeated Bader Bin Eidan in the Super Street Bike; Mohammed Al Baddah overcame Ahmed Al Hamidan to win the Street Bike and Waleed Albadeen defeated Ali Bahram to win the Index Bike 9.50.
The championship now heads into the season’s final round this week at BIC. Action started yesterday with a Test and Tune which continues today. Qualifying is tomorrow and Race Day on Friday. There will be an end-of-season awards ceremony on Saturday night at the Skahir circuit.
