MULLA STAYS UNBEATEN, REITERER WINS SKI GP1 TITLE
Perez wins first Runabout GP1 crown; Uzare pips Ortendahl for Ski Ladies’ top honours
Sh arjah:t ea ma bud ha bi’ s newly cr owned
World Champion Rash id Al Mulla brought down the curtain on a successful season to win Moto 3 and confirm victory in every Freestyle Moto heat during the 2018 UIM-ABP Freestyle World Championship at Sharjah’s Khalid Lagoon on Friday.
The 31-year-old Emirati was again in a class of his own with his unique array of style and panache and a subtle combination of somersaults, fountains, back-flips, spins and on-water acrobatics. His reward was 92 points from the panel of five judges. Second place and 63 points gave Portugal’s Paulo Nunes the runner-up spot in the final Freestyle classification. Russian stunt rider Alexander Kuramshin finished third on the day and UAE’S Ali Abdeljalil was fourth.
PERFECT RUN FOR PEREZ
Frenchman Jeremy Perez needed to finish fourth or higher in Moto 3 to claim a maiden Runabout GP1 and deprive Kuwait’s Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq of a fourth successive and fifth title in total.
Perez made the better start and led through the opening turns, but Abdulrazzaq was not to be denied and he snatched the advantage on the turnover at the end of lap one. Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al Tayer failed to start.
Abdulrazzaq continued to lead into a black flag brought about by Christophe Agostini’s course violation and the leading duo held station into lap five. China’s Ronghua Wu was a close third. The Kuwaiti was not able to shake off the pursuing Perez and the pair passed the chequered flag separated by 19.39 seconds after the World Champion elect eased over the closing turns.
Perez had done enough to confirm his first world title, but Wu’s mid-race retirement moved Lars Akerblom up to third place.
James Bushell’s tremendous climb from outside the top 10 to as high as fourth fizzled out with technical issues with three and a half minutes of the 25 still to run.
REITERER REIGNS SUPREME
In the Ski GP1 category, the Victory Team’s Kevin Reiterer had a 24-point advantage over 2018 European Champion Raphael Maurin heading into the final Moto of the year and the Austrian only needed to finish in the points to secure the title.
Reiterer was once again in a class of his own producing a faultless performance to win the title and seal his second UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship.
He edged into a 5.31-second advantage over Maurin through the opening lap and went on to extend that to a winning margin of 32.76 seconds to clinch a second world title and a first since 2015. Belgian rider Quinten Bossche passed Maurin on lap six and wrapped up second, but Maurin finished as the runner-up in the championship and finished third in the final eight-lap Moto.
Reiterer posted his intent in the morning’s practice session with a fastest tour of 1min 54.79sec during his five circuits of the race course. Estonian Marten Manni was second and Frenchman Axel Courtois came in third.
UZARE TRIUMPHS
Krista Uzare came into the final Ski Ladies Moto with a seven-point advantage over Sweden’s Emmanellie Ortendahl and the Latvian snatched the Moto 3 lead and began to pull clear of Estonian rider Jasmiin Ypraus and her Swedish rival. Jonna Borgström was a distant fourth, as Katrin Nilbe withdrew from the race.
A determined Ortendahl overcame a mistake on her third lap and managed to pass Ypraus on the front stretch when the Estonian dropped her bike. The Swede began to close in on the leader and trailed by 5.26 seconds heading into lap five. Uzare was able to hold off the spirited challenge to claim a 3.89-second win and a maiden world title with the Swede finishing as runner-up.