Download Report

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2014
SPORTS
51
Marquez takes
Australia pole
Crutchlow 2nd
PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia,
Oct 18, (AFP): Marc Marquez
swept to a record-equalling
pole position Saturday for this
weekend’s
Australian
MotoGP a week after clinching back-to-back world titles.
Any suggestion that the pressure
was off and the young Spanish rider
was taking it easy heading into
Phillip Island after celebrating the
championship with three races left in
the season was scotched by another
masterful display.
Participants, officials of 2014/2015 Losail MX championship pose for a group photo.
South African Botha fastest in MX1 qualifying session
Kuwaiti rider Jaafar triumphs at Losail MX Champ’ship
By Iddris Seidu
Arab Times Staff
day, Kuwaiti rider Meshari Abou
Shaibah took the lead in the first
three races but Mohammed Jaafar
overtook Meshari and kept the first
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 18: Kuwaiti
rider Mohammed Jaafar was a double winner at the Losail MX
Championship that kicked off at the
MX Tracks at the Losail
International Circuit in Doha Friday
with fifteen bikes divided into MX1
and MX2 categories participating.
In MX1, in the Qualifying session, the fastest rider was the South
African Le Roy Botha, the runner
up of the last season in this category.
Le Roy made a lap time of
1.59.792 with a Honda bike. The
Kuwaiti rider Meshari Shaibah was
second also with a Honda, 2.01.724.
Mohammed Jaafar, who last season
was registered in MX2, switched
this year to MX1 and did the third
MOTO-CROSS
best lap timing, 2.02.401.
Also in MX2, Kuwaiti Barak Al
Jasmi was the fastest in his category
with a KTM, 2.07.595. His teammate, Moaath Al Ansari was second
with a time of 2.10.262. Al- Ansari,
the champion of MX1 last season,
has changed to MX2 this season.
Eight Kuwaiti riders in all participated in the opening day event.
Speaking to Arab Times, Hamad
Al-Saif, an official of the Kuwait
Quarter Mile & Motorcycles Club,
stated that in the first race of the
Kuwait’s Mohammed Jaafar in action
position until the end.
The winner of the race, Jaafar
was very excited for his win in the
new category, dedicating his win in
the new category to his coach AlBalooshi, head of the Balooshi
Racing Team, who he said had been
very instrumental and hands-on in
his training for a long time. The
second place for MX1 was for
Meshari and the third for Le Roy
Botha.
Another Kuwaiti, Barak Al Jasmi
finished first in MX2, while
Bahraini rider Hasan Nooraldin finished in second place in his category with Mohammed al Hattab ended
in third place.
Jaafar was again the winner of the
second race of the day. The Kuwaiti
rider took the lead from the first laps
and crossed the finish line with a
difference of 40.783 ahead of
Meshari Abou Shaibah who finished
again second. The third place was
again for Le Roy Botha.
In the MX2 category, in the second race, the winner was Hasan
Nooraldin from Bahrain. Barak Al
Jasmi and Abdullah Al Raqum both
from Kuwait, ended in second and
third place respectively.
Trophies were presented by
Sultan Zaher Al Morraikhi (QMMF
Board Member), Essa Al Awadi
(FIM Asia Vice-President) and
Rashid Al Sulaiti (QMMF Public
Relations Manager). The next round
of Losail MX will be on 21st
November.
The 21-year-old Repsol Honda rider
clocked one minute 28.408 seconds to
finish ahead of Ducati’s Cal Crutchlow
by 0.234secs, with Yamaha’s Jorge
Lorenzo a further eight-hundredths of a
second behind in third.
It was Marquez’s 12th pole of the
year, equalling the record of most poles
in a season held by Australians Mick
Doohan and Casey Stoner.
Should Marquez win Sunday’s
Australian MotoGP it will be his 12th
victory in 16 races this season, which
will equal Doohan’s feat in his 1997
world championship season with the
same Repsol Honda team.
MOTOR CYCLING
Marquez recovered after Lorenzo
topped the lap charts in Friday’s opening
practice, but he believes the Yamahas
may have the superior race pace.
“We improved a lot today after being
a bit too far off the pace yesterday,” he
said. It was Marquez’s 21st career pole
in MotoGP as he chases his first premier
class victory at the Phillip Island circuit
after winning the 125cc race in 2010.
Lorenzo is battling Marquez’s
Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa
and Rossi for second place overall in
the championship, with the trio separated by just three points.
Lorenzo, who won last year’s
MotoGP at Phillip Island on the way to
losing the world championship by four
points to Marquez, is coming off backto-back wins at Aragon and Motegi.
Pedrosa was fifth fastest Saturday
after having to go through repechage
qualifying while Rossi, a nine-time
world champion through the classes,
was eighth and will start on the third
row of the grid.
The Italian great, 35, who is riding in
his 250th premier class race this weekend, has finished on the podium 14
times in 17 visits to Phillip Island
across all three classes.
Briton Crutchlow’s second place in
qualifying gives him his first front-row
MotoGP rider Marc Marquez of Spain
celebrates after taking pole in the
qualifying session for the Australian
MotoGP Grand Prix at Phillip Island
on Oct 18. (AFP)
start of the season.
Results
MotoGP
1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 1min
28.408sec,
2.
Cal
Crutchlow
(GBR/Ducati) at 0.234sec, 3. Jorge
Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 0.242, 4.
Bradley Smith (GBR/Monster Yamaha
Tech) 0.248, 5. Dani Pedrosa
(ESP/Honda) 0.267, 6. Aleix Espargaro
(ESP/Forward Yamaha) 0.458, 7.
Andrea Iannone (ITA/Ducati Pramac)
0.479,
8.
Valentino
Rossi
(ITA/Yamaha) 0.548, 9. Pol Espargaro
(ESP/Yamaha Tech3) 0.560, 10.
Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 0.680
Moto2
1. Esteve Rabat (Spain) Kalex
1:32.470; 2. Johann Zarco (France)
Caterham Suter 1:32.485; 3. Mika
Kallio (Finland) Kalex 1:32.698; 4.
Maverick Vinales (Spain) Kalex
1:32.712;
5.
Thomas
Luethi
(Switzerland) Suter 1:32.757; 6. Sandro
Cortese (Germany) Kalex 1:32.824; 7.
Sam Lowes (Britain) Speed up
1:32.938; 8. Jordi Torres (Spain) Suter
1:32.941; 9. Xavier Simeon (Belgium)
Suter 1:32.960’ 10. Marcel Schroetter
(Germany) Tech 3 1:32.964
Moto3
1. Alex Marquez (ESP/Honda) 1min
36.050sec, 2. Alex Rins (ESP/Honda)
at 0.014sec, 3. Juanfran Guevara
(ESP/Kalex KTM) 0.339, 4. Danny
Kent (GBR/Husqvarna) 0.369, 5. John
McPhee (GBR/Honda) 0.471, 6. Efren
Vazquez (ESP/Honda) 0.522, 7. Jasper
Iwema (NED/CIP) 0.590, 8. Jack
Miller (AUS1/Red Bull KTM) 0.622,
9. Alexis Masbou (FRA/OngettaRivacold) 0.638, 10. Romano Fenati
(ITA/Sky Racing Team) 0.642.