26 February 2010
UAE Sportbike Festival Report
Arushen Moodley makes it ten out of ten at the Sportbike Festival

South African Superbike champion Arushen Moodley made it ten out of ten wins in the UAE Sportbike Championship by powering to victory in the two races of the Sportbike Festival at Dubai Autodrome today (Friday, 26 February).

Moodley, riding an Aprilia, started the day as the man to beat on the shorter Club Circuit configuration of the Dubai circuit. Once again the Championship leader did not disappoint, this team and fans, winning race one comfortably by 2.6 seconds from Kawasaki mounted Scott Smart who finished second.

In race two Moodley was made to work hard by Smart but still managed to win albeit by less than a motorcycle length and thus notch up two victories on a windy day in Dubai. Smart was second in both races and had the consolation of setting the fastest lap of the day in the final race.

Saudi ace Abdulaziz Binladin (Aprilia) was third in race one and race two, with Rod Scott (Yamaha) best of the locally based riders in fourth. His team mate Hussein Al Kooheji was fifth in both races.

• UAE Sportbikes Results

Jonathan Simmonds takes double win in Cytech UAE Touring Car Championship races

On the support bill were two of the popular and closely contested Cytech UAE Touring Car Championship Class 1 races which Jonathan Simmonds (DXB Racing SEAT Supercopa) won, signaling his championship intent with two rounds to go in the 2009/2010 championship. In both races Khalid Al Mutawaa (House of Portier SEAT) was runner-up and had little answer to Simmond’s pace on the day.

Jordanian driver Nader Zuhour made his UAE Touring Cars debut in a Class 1 SEAT and impressed by finishing third twice. It was a bad day for regular pace setter Khaled Bin Hadher who had problems and finished down the order.

After the second race the stewards of the meeting demoted Al Mutawaa to fifth in Class 1 due to a technical infringement. This promoted Zuhour into second place and Phil McGovern (Golf) into third.

Umair Khan in the Lap 57 Honda had a good day winning both races in the highly competitive Class 2 category. He got the better of his team mate Omran Al Owais, who finished second, in the first race ahead of third placed Essa Bin Hadher in the Performance Racing Honda.

In race two of Class 2 it was Khan again who took the chequered flag this time with a2b Garage Team duo of Spencer Vanderpal and Jason O’Keefe in his slipstream, he latter two finishing second and third respectively. Al Owais had problems in race two and was unclassified.

In the race within a race, the Suzuki Swift Cup, former Touring Car champion Costas Papantonis made a welcome return to the circuit after a layoff since last season and was immediately the man to beat in the series and proceeded to win the Swift Cup category in both races.

• Cytech UAE Touring Cars Results

Christophe Hissette bounces back and strikes twice in the GulfSport Radical Cup races

It has been a tough season so far for Christophe Hissette driving for AUH Motorsports in the GulfSport Radical Cup. He has shown the pace to win races on many occasions, but his team mate Jordan Gorgor has had the better results until this Sportbike Festival race day.

Hissette reversed the trend by not putting a foot wrong, taking the chequered flag twice with Grogor filling his mirrors in second place. The reversal of fortune keeps the championship very much alive in the series. Bob George, fresh from a good showing at Yas Marina a week earlier, took third place in both races.

• GulfSport Radical Cup Results

UAE National Race Day 6 takes place at Dubai Autodrome on 19 March 2010.