Monday, Sep 09, 2013
Dubai: After a couple of setbacks in the last two races, the Dubai combination of Arif Al Zafein and Mohammad Al Merri in Fazza are finding the competition getting tougher for the overall title in the 2013 UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Series.
After a rather dramatic fifth round of the series held on Lake Maggiore in Arona on Sunday, Fazza continue at the top of the overall standings with 1,201 points. They will, however, have some serious thinking to do before the sixth round is held in Ningbo, China on November 8-10.
In second place overall is the Swiss-American combination of Omar Danial and Gary Ballough in their boat Mouawad with 1,023 points after their third-place finish in Arona.
With teammates Salem Ali Al Adid and Talib Al Sayed flipping their Victory 33 boat when the race was restarted for a second time, the brand-new combination of Rashid Al Tayer and Jay Price continued to impress with a second place at the European Grand Prix to take the third spot in the standings with a total of 806 points.
Matteo Nicolini and Tomaso Polli, who emerged as champions of the European Grand Prix in Arona, are also in the mix after moving up into fifth overall with 675 points, just behind Victory Team (750 points).
“It’s great,” Italy’s Nicolini said after leading his boat to victory on Sunday. “When you win in Italy it’s the best. I have never seen a crowd line this in XCAT racing. I’ve seen crowds in Cernobbio last year and in Lake Como when I was in Class One. But I think it is more crowded here, so to get a podium finish is simply great.”
With results for the podium in the last two rounds in Italy changing hands the tussle for the overall standings is headed towards an exciting finish with just three races remaining in the series.
The boats will move off for the sixth round in Ningbo in the last week of October before turning back to Fujairah for the first World Cup followed by the eighth and final round on the Mina Seyahi waters of Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) on December 12-14.
By Alaric Gomes Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
