Double joy for Mishal Alneaimi at BIC

Manama : Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) hosted a thrilling National Racing Day on Friday, with five competitors kick starting the new season with impressive victories in their respective championships.

Mishal Alneaimi was the star of the night, winning both races in the Bahrain Superbike Championship (BSBK), Mohammed Faqihi and Hussain Karimi shared the honours in the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, while James Webster and Ali Alshammari won a race each in the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600.

All the action was under floodlights along the 2.55-kilometre Inner Track at BIC and was organised in cooperation with the Bahrain Motor Federation, Circuit Racing Club and the Bahrain Motorcycle Club.

In the BSBK, Alneaimi headed into the season-opener looking to start from where he left off last season, when he was crowned the series’ first-ever title winner with an undefeated record in 12 races. 

But it was clear from the lights that the Qatari was not going to be cruising to any easy victories this year, as Aussie rival Aaron Moris and Briton Mike Edwards quickly showed that they are ones to look out for.

Despite winning pole position, Alneaimi opted to save his tyres and run behind Moris and Edwards for the first few laps. Midway through, he and Moris were only tenths-of-a-second apart until the defending champion overtook his rival with three laps to go.

Alneaimi eventually pulled away from the pack and claimed the chequered flag in a winning time of 12 minutes 41.223 seconds. He enjoyed a 6.058 second gap ahead of Moris, while Edwards was classified third 13.563s adrift.

From fourth through eighth place, respectively, were Fahad Alsuwaidi, Ali Al Shammari, Wesley Pearce, Ahmed Almuyin and Mohamoud Tannir.

In race two, an early mistake from Alneaimi saw him fall to the middle of the field but he did well to fight back and gain position lap after lap. He took over as leader on lap seven after also clocking his personal best lap time of 1:07.842.

Alneaimi staved of a hard challenge to the finish from Moris, who ended the race just 1.576s behind. Edwards was third 14.290s back, and the top three led the same eight riders in the same order from race one. With his first round double, Alneaimi has made it 14 victories in a row in the BSBK.