World Aquabike Championship: Drange, Reiterer, Hawair earn Moto 2 victories in Qatar; Moto 1 runabout GP1 glory for Perez

The second of the Ski Ladies GP1, Ski Division GP1 and Runabout GP2 Asian Continental Championship Motos and the first of the Runabout GP1 Motos for t...

The second of the Ski Ladies GP1, Ski Division GP1 and Runabout GP2 Asian Continental Championship Motos and the first of the Runabout GP1 Motos for the Old Doha Port Grand Prix of Qatar were held in punishing heat on Friday afternoon.   A flying Benedicte Drange stormed through the Ski Ladies GP1 field to snatch a vital victory in the second of the Motos. But second-placed Estelle Poret heads into the final heat on Saturday with a 15-point lead in the World Championship over defending champion Jasmiin Ypraus.   Drange said: “In Moto 1, I had the lead and then my fuel pump broke. I was full speed on the stretch and it broke. I did not finish and it was a heartbreak because I was going for a title. I thought to myself, I will start as nine or 10 in Moto 2 and the championship is not on the line anymore. I needed to bring back my joy of racing. When I had a championship, it was too much pressure. I don’t enjoy it. I went out had fun, did the best I could and had a brilliant start. I swept past half the field and passed Jasmiin on the first lap. Then I took Estelle and Jessica (Chavanne). It was probably the best race I have done in my career. I am super happy and dedicate this victory to my team and my mechanics.”   Veteran Kevin Reiterer stormed through to earn Moto 2 success in Ski GP1 after pole-sitter and Moto 1 winner Quinten Bossche shut down on the opening lap and was later disqualified for a course infringement. Third place for Denmark’s Oliver Koch Hansen gave him an 18-point lead over Jéremy Poret to take into the final Moto on Saturday.

Reiterer said: “This morning I thought it was going to be easier than yesterday but it was up and down like crazy. We had rollers coming in from boats that we weren’t expecting on the straights. We were just taking off. It was really rough, one of the roughest and hardest Motos I have ever done. I got off to an okay start and then Quinten’s boat shut off and he fell back. I tried to pace myself, save some energy and put in some good laps if there was a fight later. Five to seven seconds was a good gap so that you don’t have to worry in the splits.”   François Medori headed into the opening Runabout GP1 Moto with a 16-point World Championship advantage over Jéremy Perez but engine issues sidelined the Corsican after he had passed Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq to take the Moto lead. The Kuwaiti regained the advantage to win the Moto only to lose out to Perez near the finish. The Frenchman now takes a nine-point lead over Medori into the final Moto.   The triumphant Perez said: “I feel really good. It was a really difficult race. I push and push and György passed me and I passed him again om the last corner. I am happy to win. François was faster than me but we will see. The strategy now will be to get a good start in Moto 2 and try to push and not to lose places. I know that I need to finish four or five so I will manage my race.”   Emirati Amer Hawair clinched a lights-to flag second victory in the Runabout GP2 category to put him in a strong position to seal the title at the final race on Saturday.  Drange flies to Ski Ladies GP1 Moto 2 success   Moto 1 winner Estelle Poret knew that a top finish would put her in a superb position to claim the world title on Saturday. She lined up on pole ahead of Naomi Benini, Jasmiin Ypraus, Jessica Chavanne, River Varner and Virginie Morlaes. The cruel engine problem in Moto 1 had pushed title contender Benedicte Drange to the rear of the 10-boat field.   Chavanne stormed through to get the hole shot and took the outside split ahead of Poret, Varner, Drange, Ypraus, Benini, Morlaes, Sofie Borgström, Emy Garcia and Janina Johansson. Chavanne maintained her lead through the opening lap but Drange managed to pass Poret and take second position, although, as long as Poret finished the two remaining Motos, Drange was helpless in her quest for the title.   Drange then overhauled Chavanne on the second lap and began to edge clear, as Varner managed to overhaul a subdued Ypraus to take fifth. Garcia climbed to seventh at the expense of a struggling Morlaes. Ypraus regained fifth and Garcia moved into sixth with Varner dropping back to seventh heading into lap four.   Drange held on to nail the Moto win by 2.398 seconds and picked up 25 invaluable championship points. Poret passed Chavanne to finish second and a resurgent Ypraus snatched third from Chavanne to finish ahead of Benini, Garcia, Varner, Morlaes and Borgström. Varner then incurred a two-lap penalty for course cutting and Benini was docked 40 seconds for lane indiscipline. Benini finished fifth ahead of Morlaes, Borgström and Varner.   Ypraus said: ““I could see this weekend that we didn’t have the start speed, which means I need to work. Both Motos we have come up pretty good and I am happy with my driving and a lot of overtakes. But that is all I can do right now. Hopefully, we figure out a better set-up for tomorrow and go for a Moto win!”   Johansson pulled out after three laps. “It kept dying all the time and then it wouldn’t start,” groaned Johansson.  Moto 2 success in Ski GP1 for Reiterer   World champion Quinten Bossche had controlled Moto 1 in the morning and his rewards was pole for Moto 2. He lined up omn the start pontoon ahead of championship leader Oliver Koch Hansen, Jéremy Poret, Kevin Reiterer, Toshi O’Hara, Valentin Dardillat, Morgan Poret, Anthony Beernaut, Alex Barret and Matteo Benini.   Poret snatched the hole shot from Reiterer, O’Hara, Koch Hansen and Beernaut after Bossche took a tumble and lost valuable ground on his rivals. He found himself down in 17th of the 19th riders and was faced with another fight back from the rest of the field. Morgan Poret was a non-starter.

  Reiterer then snatched the lead from Poret and O’Hara but Bossche made another mistake and lost all his momentum. By lap three, Reiterer led from O’Hara, Poret, Koch Hansen and young Yoni Hamelin. Bossche was disqualified for rising in the wrong direction to cap another disastrous Moto for the current champion.   Reiterer held on to take the victory by 14.999 seconds from O’Hara and Koch Hansen, who closed in on the world title with 20 precious championship points. His closest title rival Jéremy Poret eventually finished sixth behind Dardillat and the impressive Benjamin Scharff. Beernaut, Matteo Benini, Alex Barret and Ander-Hubert Lauri rounded off the top 10.  Perez takes opening Runabout GP1 Moto win after Medori and Al-Abdulrazzaq retire   Only six of the 23 Runabout GP1 entrants had turned out for the morning’s second free practice with the remaining riders persevering their skis for the opening Moto.   Multiple former champion Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq lined up on pole position ahead of series leader François Medori, Jéremy Perez, György Kasza and the high-flying Khalifa Belselah. The Kuwaiti earned the hole shot to stay ahead of Medori, Belselah, Perez, Kasza, Andrzej Wisniewski and Ruben Jimenez Riquelme. Egidijus Kirilevicius and Robin Laforge were non-starters.

  Al-Abdulrazzaq continued to fend off Medori and actually increased his advantage to over three seconds heading into lap three. Medori was also watchful of his title push. With 15 minutes of the race to run, Al-Abdulrazzaq led Medori by just over two seconds with Belselah, Kasza and Perez in the top five. Kasza and Perez then passed the Emirati, who plummeted out of contention and retired on lap five.   Linus Lindberg climbed to fifth ahead of Qatar’s Waleed Al-Sharshani and Wisniewski with 11 minutes on the clock. Medori snatched the lead on lap eight bur then the Frenchman stuttered to a halt with engine issues and Al-Abdulrazzaq regained the lead. The Corsican’s demise threw the title race wide open with Kasza and new virtual championship leader Perez in third.   Al-Abdulrazzaq suffered technical issues and slipped behind his rivals with Perex passing Kasza to win the Moto by 1.631 seconds and pick up 25 invaluable points. Al-Sharshani earned a sensational podium finish for the host nation in third with Lindberg and Pierre-François Savelli avoiding the carnage to finish fourth and fifth. Jean-Baptiste Baldassari, Qatar’s Khaled Jamal Al-Mohannadi,  Lino Araújo, Martin Doulik and Ahmed Al-Khaldari rounded off the top 10. Tory Snyder was disqualified for a route violation.  Second successive Asian Runabout GP2 victory for Amer Hawair   Emirati Amer Hawair took full advantage of pole position for winning Moto 1. He claimed the hole shot from Qatar’s Mahmoud and Mohamed Abumaali with Saudi Arabia’s Daoud Kaloti holding fourth ahead of Khalaf Al-Kuwari and Khalid Al-Maazmi at the start of the second Runabout GP2 Asian Continental Moto.     Hawair began to pull clear of his rivals and was over six seconds to the good through lap two with the pursuing quintet holding their positions. Kaloti managed to pass Mohamed Abumaali and snatch third place, as Mahmoud Abumaali began to apply the pressure on the leading Emirati.   Kaloti managed to pass Mahmoud Abumaali in the closing minutes as well to seal second place, albeit 3.837 seconds behind the triumphant Emirati. Mahmoud Abumaali rounded off the podium positions from Al-Maazmi, Al-Kuwari and Mohamed Abumaali.