Team Abu Dhabi rider Al Mulla wins again to stay on course for another world title
Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al Tayer produced a battling performance in China today to preserve his world aquabikes title challenge as team-mate Rashed Al Mulla extended his winning sequence.
Al Tayer’s hopes of a second Grand Prix victory of the season were effectively ended when his race engine was delayed at customs en route to the Grand Prix of Qingdao, penultimate round of the UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship.
Forced to compete on a bike rented locally by the team and conceding a big power advantage, Al Tayer fought his way to seventh position in today’s first moto to hold third place overall in the world championship.
The result left him ten points behind Denmark’s championship leader Marcus Jorgensen who was beaten into second place by Kuwait’s Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq.
With a second moto rounding off the action in China tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, Al Tayer will be aiming to secure enough points to give himself a fighting chance in December’s title deciding final round in Sharjah.
In freestyle, Al Mulla moved towards a ninth successive Grand Prix victory and a second world title by winning the first moto from Roberto Mariani to extend his championship lead over the Italian to 15 points.