2014 UIM-ABP AQUABIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Aquabike Grand Prix of Qatar, March 6-8 – round 1

For immediate release
Friday, March 7th, 2014

HEAT ONE WINS FOR FRENCH DUO OF LEMOINE
AND PORET AT UIM-ABP AQUABIKE GP OF QATAR

· French girl Jennifer Menard secures Ski Ladies GP1 heat win
· Qatari Mohammed Al-Haidus snatches superb Runabout second
· Rok Florjancic cruises to Freestyle win; Qatar’s Al-Kuwari third
· Second World Championship heats on Saturday afternoon

DOHA (Qatar): The French trio of Cyrille Lemoine, Jeremy Poret and Jennifer Menard and Slovenian’s Nac Florjancic won the first World Championship heats in the Runabout, Ski Division GP1, Ski Ladies GP1 and Freestyle categories at the UIM-ABP Aquabike Grand Prix of Qatar on Doha Bay on Friday.

Qatar’s Sultan Al-Kuwari produced one of the performances of the day in the Freestyle category to beat two of the world’s finest artists to snatch third position behind world champion Nac Florjancic and his brother Rok.

Kuwait’s defending world champion Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq started his first World Championship Runabout heat from pole position, but first heat honours went to Cyrille Lemoine, after the Kuwaiti was disqualified and Qatar’s Mohammed Al-Haidus pushed Lemoine all the way to the chequered flag.

It was a sensational performance by the Qatari in the 13-lap race and he finished just 3.16 seconds behind the multiple World Champion to claim 20 points. Italian Mattia Fracasso was third and the French duo of Teddy Pons and Jeremy Perez rounded off the top five.

Qatar’s Waleed Al-Sharshani finished sixth in the Runabout heat, Ahmad Al-Dawas was ninth and Hesham Bakhsh was classified in 16th overall for the host nation. Frenchman Francois Medori pulled out after three laps.

Jeremy Poret headed American Chris MacClugage into action in the first of the Ski Division GP1 heats and Poret maintained his supremacy over the American in a thrilling nine-lap race. He reached the chequered flag 11.12 seconds in front of the Arizona rider to claim 25 points. Portugal’s Tiago Sousa was third, Spaniard Nachete Armillas took fourth and Ludovic Caumont, running on a Qatar licence, was fifth of the 17 riders who took the start.

French girl Jennifer Menard headed Estelle Poret and Marta Sorrentino into Ski Ladies GP1 action and she was never troubled. Menard completed seven laps of the Doha Bay course and finished heat one 1min 14sec in front of Sorrentino and a lap in front of Poret.

Nac and Rok Florjancic had been the class of the Freestyle field in the Pole Position session on Thursday and the Slovenian brothers didn’t disappoint in the first of the heats either. Rok was again the class act with his varied display of spins, twists and turns and he cruised to the first heat win with a score of 97 points.

Brother Nac was a distant second with 85.5 points and Qatar’s Sultan Al-Kuwari produced a stunning performance to amass a score of 77.5 to take third from fellow QMSF entrant Bader Al-Abdullah. Frenchman Romain Stampers and former world supremo Valerio Calderoni of Italy were down in fifth and sixth overall. Qatar’s Fahad Al-Hameli and Abdullah Al-Langawi finished eighth and ninth.

Qatar’s Sultan Al-Kuwari had been the top local performer in the pole position and had qualified in sixth, heading six other Qatari entrants including Fahad Al-Hameli, Bader Al-Abdullah and Abdullah Al-Langawi.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the final day of the UIM-ABP Aquabike Grand Prix of Qatar, being organised by the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), which runs under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani.

Further free practice precedes the second World Championship heats in the Ski Division GP1, Runabout and Freestyle categories.

2014 Aquabike Grand Prix of Qatar – timetable of events

Saturday, March 8

10.00 – 11.10 Free practice
10.00-10.20 Ski Division GP1
10.25-10.45 Runabout GP1
10.50-11.10 Freestyle
14.00 – 15.45 World Championship – 2nd heats
14.00-14.30 Ski Division GP1
14.30-15.00 Freestyle
15.15-15.45 Runabout GP1

Ends

For further information:
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: ndppublicity@googlemail.com,
www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases). Twitter: @LordPerkins

www.qmsf.org
www.aquabike.net

Published On: 7 March 2014