JEDDAH, 30 June 2007 — Mohammad Al-Nahdi of Red Speed team took the 1st slot in the 4th round of Mobily Karting Race 2007 at Durat Al-Arous in north Jeddah on Thursday night. Hussein Al-Sharif of Sport Auto team, winner of 1st round, ranked second after he was involved in a marvelous challenge.
Al-Sharif was 4th soon after the start and then struggled to pass Al Mohanad Bashraheel of Red Speed team and Maher Mouminah of Raf Riders to stay in 2nd position till the end of the round.
This round was was full of action, especially from professional drivers such as Al-Sharif, Mohammad Kereidiah of Sport Auto team, the winner of Mobily Karting Championship 2006, Abdulrahman Al-Haraki of RMC, Maher Mouminah of Raf Rider, Mohammad Al-Nahdi and Bashraheel of Red Speed, Sohail Al Naqeeb of Naft, and Bandar Al Sylami and Moutaz Jamal of Samorai.
The race started with Al-Nahdi in first position followed by Mouminah in second, Bashraheel in third and Al-Sharif in 4th positions.
Running at the front of the field, Al-Nahdi maintained the virtual lead over Mouminah with Bashraheel moving up to first place. Al-Sharif overtook Bashraheel and Mouminah to rank 2nd.
Eventually, Bashraheel pulled out before 22 laps had been completed. This was because he did not raise his hand when one of the race referees raised the yellow flag. Bandar Al Silami and Muttaz Jamal were trailing in 4th and 5th positions and not able to close the gap on those ahead.
By lap 25, Al-Nahdi completed his lead with 00:13:42:37, as Al-Sharif clawed his way into 2nd place with 00:13:59:90. Mouminah completed the race 3rd with 00:14:02:69.
Six teams — Samorai, Red Speed, Sport Auto, Raf Rider, RMC and Naft – took part in the round. Each team consisted of two drivers, except three teams that had a driver each.
Majed Al Shahrani of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW) congratulated the winners and expressed his satisfaction over the successful conclusion of the race.
He also complimented Saudi Rally Champion and motor sport developer Abdullah Bakhashab for the successful organization of the competition and bringing the soul of F1 to the Kingdom.
Bakhashab said that karting races would give a big boost to the Kingdom’s tourism sector.
“The competition has put the country on the international map of sporting events,” he said and hoped that international karting races would be staged across the Kingdom in the near future.
Mobily was the main sponsor of the event, which was supported by Bridgestone, Mobil 1, IN 10 SO and Okaz newspaper.
The race was held under the supervision of the GPYW and the Saudi Committee for Motorsport.
