Shaikh Salman, Almuyini shine

Manama : 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 2.550-kilometre 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, Shaikh Salman 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. 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, Almuyini captured the race one chequered flag after 11 laps in 12:52.346 – a narrow 1.252s ahead of Salman Khalaf. In third was Saska Totaro 6.592s behind.

Wesley Pearce, Kyle Martin and Masoud Behbehani completed the top six from nine competitors.

Khalaf had the fastest lap of 1:09.422 in the event.

In the second race, Almuyini 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.

Almuyini set the best lap for the sprint at 1:09.078.

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 was the runner-up 8.822s behind, while Nasser Al Khadra came third 23.286s back. All three top placers were competing in the Super Stock category.