UAE Trio make winnning start in record line-up for Emirates Desert Championship

Al Fahim opens season with cars victory, Al Balooshi tops bikes battle, Al Mashghouni starts with quads success

Dubai, UAE, 6 October, 2014: Ahmad Al Fahim has given an early indication that he is determined to hold on to his cars title in the Emirates Desert Championship, while fellow-UAE competitors Mohammed Al Balooshi and Humaid Al Mashghouni also made a flying start to the new season.

Al Fahim, the defending champion, took an immediate lead in the national Baja rally series with a convincing cars victory in the opening round of the 2014-15 season which featured a record 100 starters on four and two wheels.

Driving his familiar Polaris buggy, the Emirati won the short course event in the Al Qudra area of Dubai on Friday by 1min 37 secs from Mansour Al Helei in a Nissan Patrol.

Graeme Rose took third place in another Polaris, while Ian Barker and Emil Kneisser in another pair of Nissans, and Chris Jackson in a Can AM buggy, completed the top six.

In a fiercely contested battle of the bikes, multiple Arab motocross champion Mohammed Al Balooshi took his KTM to victory in the first of six rounds that make up this season’s Emirates Desert Championship, winning by 1 min 39secs from Mohammed Jaffar. Ross Runnalls snatched third place ahead of Mark Ackerman, Mark Grams, Sam Smith.

Dutch rider Sebastian Husseini, third overall in this year’s Dakar Rally, started as favourite to open the season with a quads victory on his Yamaha, but had to settle for second place behind Humaid Al Mashghouni who won by 50.739 secs on his Honda. Colin Mercer, Jaco De Lange, Colin Wilken and Alex MacFarlane completed the top six.
Organised by the Emirates Motor Sport Federation, with TAG Heuer Middle East as the official timekeeper and founding partner, the Emirates Desert Championship is run with the support of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE.

The short course event saw the bikes and quads running on one loop and the cars and buggies on another, all at the same time, with the target is to complete as many laps as possible within a time window of approximately two hours.

ATCUAE President Mohammed Ben Sulayem  presented the trophies at the official prize giving ceremony, and with Al Fahim completing a double success by topping the buggies division, the other winners on the day were:

Cars

National - Graeme Rose (Polaris)
T1 - Ian Barker (Nissan)
T2 - Mansour Al Helei (Nissan)

Bikes

450cc - Mohammed Al Balooshi (KTM)
Marathon - Chris Dunn (KTM)
Masters - David McBride (KTM)
Over 450cc - Khalid Al Falasi (Yamaha)
Ladies - Kylie Slowe (KTM)