LUSAIL, QATAR – MX Ride Dubai’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Portuguese rivals David Megre and Pedro Bianchi Prata are locked in a three-way fight for the FIM Bajas World Cup as the eight-round series heads to Qatar.
The QMMF hosts round five on October 30 – November 2, with 62 motorcycle riders and five quads entered under the FIM.
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Al-Balooshi (KTM) and Megre (Kawasaki) are tied on 47 points with four rounds left in Qatar, Portugal, Jordan and Dubai, while Prata is four points back on his Honda CRF 450RX. With Martim Ventura and Bruno Santos absent, Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti, Saudi Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera and Lebanon’s Rafic Eid – sixth, seventh and 10th – can close in on the top three.
Poland’s Filip Grot leads the Junior class by 16 points on his GasGas 450 Rally and can extend his lead with Ventura and Edgar Canet absent. Prata is clear favourite for the Veteran title, with Eid also chasing Veteran honours alongside the Duust Rally Team’s Slawomir Sypień and Australia’s Andrew Houlihan. Team-mate Joanna Modrzewska targets Women’s category points on her Husqvarna FE450.
Saudi riders have dominated the quads: Haitham Al-Tuwaijri takes a four-point lead over Abdulaziz Al-Shayban into Qatar, with Hani Al-Noumesi and Abdulaziz Al-Atawi third and sixth. Al-Shayban beat Al-Tuwaijri at last weekend’s Qassim Rally.
A world-class field
Riders from the UAE, Poland, Lebanon, Qatar, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, India, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, South Africa, France, Croatia, Italy, China, Canada, Mexico and the USA are entered. Isle of Man TT legend James Hillier rides a Husqvarna 450, alongside Slovenia’s Simon Marcic, Gulf-based Australian Martin Chalmers and Ireland’s Oran and Tiarnan O’Kelly and Michael Stafford.
Saudi regular Mishal Al-Ghuneim is joined by compatriots Badr Al-Hamdan, Abdulrahman Al-Medaihesh and Ibrahim Al-Jarallah, plus Qatar’s Abdulattif Mojadam, Abdulrahman Al-Sheeb and Mohammed Al-Thani. Thirteen British riders include Jason Joslin, Robert Wallace, Motozone Racing’s Alex McInnes, Chris Hamer, Makis Rees-Stavros, Neil Worsley, Carl and Chris Searles and Patrick Heffron.
The event is chaired by QMMF President Abdulrahman Al-Mannai, with Executive Director Amro Al-Hamad and board member Abdulrazaq Al-Kuwari. Bike action starts with the 9.9km Prologue at 13:45 on Thursday, October 31.
FIM Bajas World Cup – 450 standings
- Mohammed Al-Balooshi – 47pts
- David Megre – 47pts
- Pedro Bianchi Prata – 43pts
- Martim Ventura – 36pts
- Bruno Santos – 35pts
- Abdullah Al-Shatti – 30pts
- Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera – 27pts