UAE Desert Champ'ship

FAHIM SECURES DOUBLE TITLE WIN IN UAE DESERT CHAMPIONSHIP —

Shamsi grabs quads crown in new national rally series as Gaugain clinches bikes triumph—

Dubai, UAE 16 February, 2014:  Ahmad Al Fahim is celebrating a double success at the end of the inaugural UAE Desert Championship, while fellow Emirati Mohammed  Shamsi and Dubai-based South African Sean Gaugain are the other big winners in the new national Baja rally series.

Victory in last weekend’s fourth and final round of the 2013-14 championship at the wheel of his Polariz RZR saw Al Fahim squeeze ahead of Ahmad Al Maqoodi, who finished second on the day, to clinch the overall cars and buggies titles.

The battle for the quads crown was just as fiercely contested, with Shamsi taking second  place on the day behind Colin Mercer but still beating him by seven points to emerge as champion, with three out of four rounds counting toward the final standings.

Coming under pressure in the bikes title chase from Sam Sunderland, who won his first stage in the Dakar Rally last month, Gaugain held on to take the championship by three points from the Dubai-based English rider, despite being beating by him into second place on the day.

Organised by the Emirates Motor Sport Federation, with TAG Heuer Middle East as the official timekeeper and founding partner, the UAE Desert Championship was run with the support of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE, the national motor sport authority.

The new series provides a natural link into to the Abu Dhabi Desert challenge, the UAE’s round of both the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies for cars, and the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship for bikes, which runs for the 24th time from 3-10 April.

 ATCUAE President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: “I’m very happy with the quality and quantity of entries we’ve had in the inaugural UAE Desert Championship.”

“We’ve mixed everything together – the cars, buggies, bikes and quads – so it’s a miniature Desert Challenge. We’ve had great support from all the drivers and riders and I want to thank them for that. This is a good start, and we want to grow the Desert Championship next year.”

 Double champion Al Fahim said: “This is a good preparation for the Desert Challenge. We really enjoy these type of rallies. It’s a really good environment and the safety factory is very high.”

Sunderland, who finished the series with successive victories, said: “The championship is awesome. It’s really good to promote the sport in the UAE. It’s been a great first series and I’m really happy to have won the last two rounds.

UAE Desert Championship, Round 4 results:

Cars

Overall & national class: 1. Ahmed Al Fahim; 2.Ahmad Al Maqoodi; 3. Khalid Al Jafla.

T1 class1: 1. Ian Barker; 2. Ben Menzies.

T2 class: 1. Mansoor Al Helei; 2. Michael Ziegler.

Bikes

Overall & 450cc class: 1. Sam Sunderland; 2. Sean Gaugin 3. Mohammed Al Balooshi

Marathon class: 1 Kristian Karcher; 2. Stephen Collie; 3. Alexandre Treffle;

Masters class: 1. Cameron Waugh; 2. Leslie Howard; 3. Mubarak Al Ali

Open class: 1. Steve Blackney; 2. John Emhoff; 3. David McBride

Female class: 1. Victoria Northway; 2. Abi Shephard; 3. Jayne Van Der Merwe

Quads: 1. Colin Mercer; 2. Mohammed Al Shamsi; 3. Humaid Al Mashghouni.

Final championship positions

Cars – Overall

1

Ahmed Al Fahim

Polaris RZR

70pts

2

Ahmad Al Maqoodi

Polaris RZR XP

66

3

Mansoor Al Helei

Nissan Patrol

58

4

Khalid Al Jafla

Polaris 2012 XP

45

5

Michael Ziegler

Toyota Landcruiser

36

6

Ian Barker

Nissan Patrol

34

Buggies

1

Ahmed Al Fahim

Polaris RZR

70

2

Ahmad Al Maqoodi

Polaris RZR XP

69

3

Khalid Al Jafla

Polaris 2012 XP

45

4

Janne Tuohino

Powertec Storm

18

5

Michel Fadel

Polaris XP900

15

Bikes – Overall

1

Sean Gaugain

Kawasaki KXF450

69pts

2

Sam Sunderland

Honda CRF 450

66

3

Mark Grams

Honda CR250R

58

4

Joshua Brodalka

Yamaha YZ

48

5

Rashed Abdullah

Honda CRF450

44

6

Ross Runnalls

Kawasaki KX450F

41

Quads

1

Mohammed Shamsi

Kawasaki 450

72

2

Colin Mercer

Honda TRX700

65

3

Humaid Al Mashghouni

Yamaha Raptor

56

4

Patrick Gersch

Yamaha Raptor

51

5

Sebastian Husseini

Honda TRX700xx

47

6

Colin Wilken

Yamaha Raptor

42

Other class winners

Cars

National – Ahmed Al Fahim

T1 – Ian BarkerT2: Mansoor Al Helei

Bikes

450cc – Sean Gaugain

Open – Sean Linton

Marathon – Krisian Karcher

Masters – Cameron Waugh

Ladies – Victoria Northway.