Fast and furious finale

Steve Jackson and Khaled Mohammed were amongst the biggest winners in the 2016/2017 Bahrain Drag Racing Championship-Arabian Pro Series, which came to a close last Saturday night with an end-of-season awards ceremony held at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

Both Jackson and Mohammed came away with two titles, having won their categories in both the national championship and the Arabian series, which share hosting privileges with Doha.

Saturday’s ceremony was attended by several high-ranking officials including BIC chairman of the board Arif Rahimi and BIC chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, along with guests, sponsors, team members and members of the media.

Competing for returning outfit Bahrain1Racing, Jackson triumphed in the highly-competitive Pro Mod category, whereas Mohammed, driving for E Kanoo Racing, clinched both trophies in the Super Street V8.

Jackson enjoyed a near-perfect debut campaign in Bahrain, winning four of the five rounds held at BIC while also setting a new world record in his class.

“We had a lot of preparation and a lot of work went into this season,” said the American, who is more popularly known by his nickname ‘Stevie Fast’.

“I never dreamed it would come out as good as it did. We have an awesome team and an awesome leader behind us in His Highness Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa and the results showed on the race track.

“We like to be spunky and speak our mind, but we let the cars do the talking and they spoke pretty loud this year!”

Mohammed, himself, had a wonderful campaign. “This was a really great season for us, specifically for this Super Street V8 category because we were planning to take both championships here,” said the veteran Bahraini. “We also did very well in the Pro Mod so overall I am very happy with everything and I would like to thank our entire team at E Kanoo Racing.

“We’re a little tired after racing back-to-back over the last five to six weeks in both Bahrain and Qatar but we are very pleased how this season has gone and we look forward to planning our next moves.”

Another three drivers managed to come away with the Bahrain championship-Arabian Pro Series double. They included Kuwaiti Meshal Alsaber in the Pro Bike category, Saudi Mishari Al Turki in the Super Street Bike class, and Kuwaiti Jamal Al Maghribi in the Index 4.5 category.

Others to be called champions of 2016/2017 were Kuwaiti Sheikh Duij Al Subah in the Outlaw 10.5 for Bahrain and Qatari Mustafa Al Atat in the Outlaw 10.5 of the Arabian Pro Series, American Gary White in the Outlaw 6-Cylinder for Bahrain and Bahraini Yousif Al Zayani in the Arabian Pro Series and Bader bin Edan in the Street Bike’s Bahrain championship with fellow-Kuwaiti claiming the same category’s Arabian Pro title.

Several other titles were handed out in the Bahrain championship. Salah Salahuddin won in the Street V8 to lead six Bahraini winners. His triumphant countrymen included Ahmed Aljalahma in the Street 4 and 6, Mohammed Mubarak in the Outlaw Front-Wheel-Drive, Hamad Al Murbati in the Super Street 6, Mohammed Jawad in the Index 9.50 and Hussain Hassan in the Index 8.50.

Kuwaiti Suliyman Dawood on in the Index 10.50 and Saudi Fadi Abu Jamoos was the champion in the Bike Index 9.50.

Salahuddin said: “I am very happy with winning the title but I don’t have any words to describe how difficult this season was for us. We had so many challenges, especially with our problems with the car – we’d break something and have it fixed, and then break something else and have it fixed, and so on – things like that it knocks us out of the race. But with all that being said, it came down to the last race and thankfully I was able to come away with the trophy.”

Bahrain Drag Racing Club President Fahad Taqi expressed his delight with how things turned out this past season. “It was very successful,” he said. “We saw a huge increase in the number of participants. From round one to round five, it was just amazing. We didn’t even know who the champions would be until the end-of-the-season.”

Winners in Round Five

Street 4 and 6: Mohammed Aljalahma

Outlaw FWD: Jasim Qamber

Super Street 6: Nawaf Ahmed

Outlaw 6-Cylinder: Gary White

Street V8: Abdulla Al Felakawi

Super Street V8: Khaled Mohammed

Competition 4.5: Suliman Alfadhel

Outlaw 10.5: Duaij Fahad

Pro Mod: Steve Jackson

Street Bike: Mesfer Al Mesfer

Super Street Bike: Mishari Al Turki

Pro Bike: Mohammed Bu Rashed

Index 10.5: Suliman Dawood

Index Bike 9.50: Fadi Abu Jamus

Index 9.5: Abdulla Al Shamsi

Index 8.5: Abdulla Ali