Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim takes 2000CC to new heights
Saturday 23 February, 2008 – BIC, Sakhir:
Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa continued to blaze through the
Batelco 2000CC Challenge this weekend by picking up first place during the third
round.
The event which ran alongside the Lumina CSV ME Championship, at the BIC's
National Racing Festival 2008, saw Shaikh Salman stand strong regardless of the
new competition which came in the form of Mustafa Al Khan, who picked up second
place in the first race, and Mohamed Saleh, who walked away with second in the
second race.
2000CC Shumi keeps it up
Shaikh Salman managed to hold on tight to pole position yesterday, having
remained undefeated through the first race and claiming his sixth victory in the
second. The racer, nicknamed 2000CC's Schumacher, has steamed ahead of the
Batelco-sponsored challenge and stayed in the driver's seat as Mustafa Al Khan
and Mohamed Saleh followed closely behind. The second race saw Mustafa Al Khan
fall behind into seventh place whilst Essa Al-Kooheji moved up into third place.
Speaking about the championship, the drivers highlighted that this was one of
the best national championships to exist in the Kingdom in the world of motor
sports. They also added that the growing number of participants was a mere
indicator of the popularity it was picking up, as was the financial backing
Batelco was providing in both prize money and sponsorship.
First place prize stands at 450 dinars, whilst second gets 400 dinars. In third
is a 350 dinar prize, with 300 dinars for fourth position. Fifth receives 250
dinars, followed by 200 dinars for sixth and 150 dinars for seventh. Eighth
position gets 100 dinars, whilst the rest up until 15th position receive 50
dinars each.
Current standings at the end of the third round are as follows: 1. Shaikh Salman
bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa; 2. Mohamed Saleh; 3. Essa Al-Kooheji; 4. Stephen
Kellogg; 5. Mike Spahn; 6. Ali Al-Kobaisi; 7. Mustafa Al Khan; 8. Rashid Al-Jowder;
9. Faisal Raffii.
Al Khan can't stop Shaikh Salman's climb
Shaikh Salman bin Isa picked up pole position in yesterday's first race, after
completing the 10 laps with a 3.938 second gap between him and Mustafa Al Khan.
He also picked up fastest lap time of 1'24''405 during the eighth lap, leaving
Al Khan in the dust.
Al Khan was pitted to be the man who would beat Shaikh Salman, but had to settle
for second place in his first race of the season.
This was no match for the remaining competitors and after the first race,
Mohamed Saleh finished in third place, whilst Issa Al-Kooheji came in fourth.
Fifth was picked up by Stephen Kellogg, followed by Ali Al-Kobaisi in sixth,
Mike Spahn in seventh, Rashid Al-Jowder in eighth and in last place stood Faisal
Raffii.
