Massive motorcycle lead for Al-Balooshi; Al-Shayban on top in quads

AQABA (JORDAN): The Portuguese Can-Am duo of João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro led the Jordan Baja by just 3.5 seconds from Emirati Taurus T3 Max driver Khalid Al-Jafla and his co-driver Andrei Rudnitski after the first day of the Aqaba-based Jordan Baja on Friday.

MX Ride Dubai’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi romped to an emphatic stage win in the motorcycle race after two punishing sections of 200.60km and 133.53km through the legendary Wadi Rum region that was split by a refuelling stop. The Emirati took a lead of 12min 51.5sec lead into the overnight halt over Lebanon’s Rafic Eid with Saudi rider Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera in third.

Yamaha rider Abdulaziz Al-Shayban leads fellow Saudi Abdulaziz Al-Atawi and championship leader Hani Al-Noumesi in the quad category.

Ferreira said: “It was super long and my first stage in Jordan. It was very tricky navigation since the beginning. There were a lot of stones at the start and it was difficult to find the right way. We finished the stage with a puncture because there were some rocks even hiding under the sand. I enjoyed it a lot and Filipe did an amazing job on the navigation.”

Al-Balooshi said: “Good but very difficult navigation today. We caught the guys around 40km in. I was quite surprised but not really ready to be opening this soon. There are many notes without caps so it was a difficult task (to navigate). But I am really happy to bring the bike home and to finish on top. Tomorrow, I need to bring the bike home and hopefully it all pays off.”

Dania Akeel was handed road-opening duties in the FIA car section with Thursday’s Prologue winner Diego Martinez of Argentina opting to start in seventh between the two Santag Racing Can-Ams of Ferreira and his team-mate João Dias.