Poret, Hansen, Medori And Mariani Seal World Aquabike Titles
Doha: Estelle Poret, Oliver Koch Hansen, François Medori and Roberto Mariani clinched UIM-ABP World Aquabike Championship titles in their final Motos at the Old Doha Port Grand Prix of Qatar yesterday.
Poret prevailed in Ski Ladies GP1 for the first time and Koch Hansen took his maiden Ski GP1 title. Medori earned a third world Runabout GP1 title with a stunning Moto 3 win after a shell-shocked series leader Jéremy Perez hit technical trouble om the parade lap and was unable to start the final Moto on time. Italian Roberto Mariani overcame a fierce late challenge from Team Abu Dhabi's Rashed Al-Mulla to seal the Freestyle crown.
Emirati Amer Hawair took the top step of the final Runabout GP2 Asian Continental Championship podium from Saudi Arabia's Moto 3-winning Daoud Kaloti and Qatari Mohamed Abumaali.
Estelle Poret seals maiden Ski Ladies GP1 world title; Moto 3 win for Drange
Estelle Poret headed into her final Moto showdown with Jasmiin Ypraus defending a 15-point lead in the World Championship. Despite winning Moto 2, Benedicte Drange's fuel pump failure in Moto 1 had ruled her out of challenging for the world title, although she had a 16-point cushion over Naomi Benini in the battle for third.
Drange sealed her second win of the weekend by 8.426 seconds and Ypraus passed Poret to take the runner-up spot but the final place on the podium was enough for Poret to earn her first world title. Poret also did enough to take honours in the Grand Prix with Ypraus and Drange finishing second and third in the World Championship.
Qatari riders in action at the Old Port Doha GP of Qatar.
Koch Hansen wins Ski GP1 world title
A vital podium finish in Moto 2 enabled Oliver Koch Hansen to start the final Ski GP1 heat with an 18-point lead over Jéremy Poret in his quest for a maiden title. Japanese rider Toshi O'Hara had already confirmed the bronze medal position with the runner-up spot in Moto 2 and had a slim chance of finishing second.
Rampant Medori takes third Runabout GP1 title with sensational Moto 3 win; GP win for Qatar's Al-Sharshani
Jéremy Perez's hard-earned Moto 2 victory in Runabout GP1 enabled the Frenchman to take the start of the final heat on pole position ahead of his friend and title rival François Medori. A crankshaft failure had cost the Corsican dearly on Friday afternoon and he trailed by nine points heading into the showdown. The battle for third place was wide open with György Kasza leading the way from Pierre-François Savelli, Linus Lindberg and Andrzej Wisniewski.
But disaster struck Perez on the parade lap when his Easy Rider ski stopped and the distraught Frenchman was not able to take the start. Medori needed to pick up just nine points to be World Champion for the third time, although he started at the back of the field. Perez had to suffer the ignominy of watching the Moto unfold from the shoreline before starting the race a lap behind the rest of the field. His only consolation was being safe in second place in the World Championship.
Kasza took the hole shot from Qatar's Waleed Al-Sharshani, Savelli, Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq and Tory Snyder. Medori was already up to ninth and then climbed to sixth heading into lap two.
The leading Hungarian continued to pull clear of the pursuing Qatari and Al-Abdulrazzaq made his way into third.
Medori made it past the Qatari to claim second and he maintained his pace over the closing laps to confirm the world title with a stunning late heat victory by 4.082 seconds. Kasza finished third behind overall Grand Prix winner Al-Sharshani and the Hungarian was also third in the final World Championship standings and second in the GP.
Freestyle world title for Mariani; Rashid Al-Mulla wins Grand Prix
Team Abu Dhabi's Rashid Al-Mulla had reduced Roberto Mariani's Freestyle lead to just seven points with his dominant display in the first Moto on Friday evening. Massimo Accumolo was assured of the bronze medal and could still catch both his main rivals in the second Moto that rounded off Qatar's return to the championship.
Mariani confirmed the world title with on-water activities that netted him 223 points and Al-Mulla did enough to earn 251 points and take the Grand Prix win with a double back flip to finish his stunning session.
Amer Hawair wins Asian Runabout GP2 title; Moto 3 win for Kaloti
Emirati Amer Hawair headed into the last of the Runabout GP2 Asian Continental Motos with a 10-point cushion over fellow countryman Khalid Al-Maazmi and an advantage of 12 points over a tying Daoud Kaloti and Mahmoud Abumaali.
The racers held their positions into lap five and Al-Maazmi held on to take the chequered flag ahead of Kaloti, Mohamed Mahmoud Abumaali, Hawair and Mahmoud Abumaali. Fourth place was sufficient for Hawair to win the inaugural Runabout GP2 Asian Continental Championship title but he was later promoted to third when Al-Maazmi received a 40-second penalty for a start infringement and Kaloti claimed the Moto win by 19.783 seconds from Mohamed Abumaali.
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