Arabian Drag Racing League round 1
when: January 10-11, 2014
where: Qatar Racing Club in Doha, Qatar

story by Tim Hailey, photos courtesy of Khalid Saif Al-Mesalam

Yaqoub Alali and the DAS ‘Busa get the jump on performance king Mishari AlTurki

Eric Paquette may not have the DAS supercharged ‘Busa running as quick as Mishari Al Turki’s record setting turbo ‘Busa yet, but in the eighth mile it’s close enough—with a little help from his rider. Yaqoub Alali left the tree with a healthy advantage over Al Turkiin the Super Streetbike final of Round 1 of the Qatar Racing Club’s Arabian Drag Racing League 2014 season, and held on for an exciting win. Paquette and the DAS bike have been playing catch-up ever since arriving, stretching wheelbase and switching to a small slick. After dropping two to Al Turki and his Fahad Al Hamoud-tuned bike in Bahrain, the QRC win shows that the ragingly loud MIRock contender is in the game.

“Thanks to the Drag 965 team for the chance to be here,” said Paquette. “We still have lot to do to get the bike right but it’s going well. The driver did a good job to pull off that win vs a bad-ass, well set-up machine.”

SUPER STREETBIKE Eliminations Results

Yaqoub Alali, Eric Paquette and Kuwait’s Drag 965 team enjoy the QRC winners circle

SUPER STREETBIKE QUALIFYING

1. MISHARI AL TURKI, KSA, 4.364 at 171.38 mph

2. YAQOUB AL ALI, KUWAIT, 4.509 at 160.86 mph,168.87

3. BADER HAMAD, KUWAIT, 5.010 at 148.66 mph

4. AHMED BIN BELAL, KUWAIT, 5.098 at 129.70 mph

5. MOHD AL DARWISH, QATAR, 5.399 at 101.64 mph,126.03

6. AHMAD ALHAMAIDAN, KUWAIT, 5.484 at 132.46 mph

7. KADHIM ABDULLAH, KUWAIT, 5.704 at 138.13 mph

In Pro Bike, TT Jones’ trip started off poorly with this testing blow and never got much better

Meshal Al-saber (far lane) lit the redeye in the Pro Bike final against Terry Schweigert

PRO BIKE (PB) Elimination Results

Terry Schweigert at speed on the DTM/Q80 Suzuki

PRO BIKE (PB) Qualifying for 8 entries

Low ET 4.102 2 MOHD BUORASHID

Top Speed 171.88 9 TERRY SCHWEIGERT

1. MOHD BUORASHID, KUWAIT, 4.102 at 171.58 mph

2. TERRY SCHWEIGERT, Canada, 4.105 at 171.88 mph

3. MOHD ALAWWAD, KUWAIT, 4.134 at 170.13 mph

4. MOHD AL DARWISH, QATAR, 4.217 at 167.47 mph

5. MESHAL AL SABER, KUWAIT, 4.224 at 167.24 mph

6. TT JONES, USA, 4.235 at 159.89 mph

7. AHMED AL NUKHILAN, KSA, 4.248 at 166.52 mph

8. BILLY VOSE, USA, 4.271 at 168.89 mph

Schwiegert, Al-saber and Dan Wagner in the all-Q80/DTM winners circle

The Pro Bike final was an all-DTM/Q80 affair between Terry “The Milkman” Schweigert and Meshal Al-saber .The week started with some controversy over the Q80 (think Kuwaiti) sponsorship on Schweigert’s bike, which was invited and had it’s expenses paid for by Qatar’s QRC. But the QRC’s Don Greenbaum should have known that, since Schweigert’s bike ran the Q80 stickers at the ADRL finals at Rockingham. Al-saber was able to smooth over the issue with the QRC, but the locals must have been stung when both Q80 bikes made the final. “We really want to thank the QRC for having us over and giving us such nice acomadations,” Dan “DTM” Wagner was quick to say after the win.

“Great way to start off over here,” chimed in Schweigert. “You can’t make this stuff up—a dairy farmer from Canada, tuned by an American, invited by the country of Qatar, and sponsored by Kuwait. I’m very fortunate and extremely grateful to here. The track is excellent, prepared by the Traction Twins. Being able to test and race four or five days a week, and riding our new bike, records will be broke. I’m feeling a little more comfortable and confident every pass, and with Dan’s tuning we hope to get in the threes over here.”

As for Kuwait’s MRB team, Mohammed Bourashid lost to Al-saber with a -007 redlight in the semi after taking out teammate Billy Vose in round 1.

…and the spotlight on Schweigert

Khaled Al Fouzan (near lane) took the Street Bike win over Ibrahim Al Joufi’s .223 light

STREET BIKE (SB) Eliminations Results

Kuwait’s Al Fouzan hoist the flag in the QRC winners circle

STREET BIKE (SB) Qualifying for 15 entries

1. SUZUKI HAYABUSA, MOHD BOU RASHID, KUWAIT, 5.291 at 138.27 mph,140.96

2. MISFER AL MISFER, KUWAIT, 5.342 at 136.22 mph,136.65

3. SUZUKI HAYABUSA, BADER HAMAD, KUWAIT, 5.399 at 131.88 mph,134.50

4. SUZUKI HAYABUSA, YAQOUB AL ALI, KUWAIT, 5.404 at 135.04 mph

5. SUZUKI HAYABUSA, KHALED AL FOWZAN, KUWAIT, 5.426 at 134.06 mph

6. SUZUKI HAYABUSA, IBRAHIM AL JOUFI, KSA, 5.448 at 136.98 mph,137.15

7. KHALID AL DOSSARY, KSA, 5.484 at 136.18 mph

8. SUZUKI HAYABUSA, MUSA AL BALOOSHI, KUWAIT, 5.491 at 136.19 mph

9. DAWOOD AL SHARSHANI, QATAR, 5.496 at 133.01 mph

10. ’08 SUZUKI HAYABUSA, RASHID AL HAJRI, QATAR, 5.678 at 131.28 mph,131.82

11. ’04 SUZUKI HAYABUSA, MOHD AL AWWAD, KUWAIT, 5.825 at 130.95 mph

12. ’09 SUZUKI HAYABUSA, TALAL AL SHARSHANI, QATAR, 5.943 at 126.67 mph

13. ’10 SUZUKI HAYABUSA, FAISAL AL HAREES, KUWAIT, 5.975 at 127.53 mph,133.74

14. ’11 SUZUKI HAYABUSA, BAYBAY YARBROUGH, USA, 6.099 at 121.66 mph

15. SHAHID MUNIR, PAKISTAN, 6.322 at 121.68 mph,121.74

Alex Hossler (far lane) took one for the home team in the Pro Extreme final

Hossler in the QRC’s long shutdown area

Billy Stocklin (far left), Hossler (second from right) and Frank Manzo (far right)

PRO EXTREME Elimination Results

Mike Castellana (near lane) nailed a .001 bulb on Khalid Al-Balooshi in the Pro Nitrous final

Castellana hangs out the laundry

Castellana (far lane) also beat Mike Stavrinos (driving Mike’s old Firebird) in Pro Modified

Both Castellana Al-Anabi cars in the QRC winners circle

Castellana hogging the hardware

View of the QRC from the tower

Like most public events in Qatar, the QRC includes lots of activities for families and children

Tareq Al Quedeeri (near lane) took the 4.5 Index final over Ali Hassam Haji

Yousaf Ali (Firebird in the far lane) streaks away from Turki Al Humaidi for the Outlaw 10.5 win

Steve Jackson (near) took the Super Street 8 battle of Mustangs win over Hassan Yousaf

Chad Morgan and his Supra left Mohammed Haji’s ’92 GTR nailed to the tree in Super Street 6

Qatar’s Nasser Al Suwaidi ousted Mohammed Ali Muhail in the Dragster final

Not much time for rest at the QRC, as Round 2 qualifying is Friday