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RUNABOUT GP1
Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq kick started his title
defence with overall victory in the opening
round of the year.
The defending world champion trailed pole-
sitter James Bushell and Lars Akerblom in
Moto 1 and needed seven laps before passing
Akerblom to move in to second place and then
set his sights on the leader. His opportunity
came when the lead duo hit a gaggle of
backmarkers and Bushell struggled to cut
his way through, Abdulrazzaq making the
telling pass on lap 13 and going on to take the
chequered flag and win by over 15 seconds.
Akerblom lost ground but held on to take third
place with Jeremy Perez moving up from being
in ninth place at the end of lap one to take
fourth ahead of Johan Johanson and Markus
Schick.
Abdulrazzaq sealed overall victory with
second place in Moto 2 but was outclassed by
Hungary’s Gyorgy Kasza, charging from the
back of the field of 21 to take the win.
He [Abdulrazzaq] trailed in third for six laps
behind Bushell and Akerblom who hit the
front on lap 7 when Bushell stopped and
retired. But the man on the move was Kasza,
scything his way through the pack, overhauling
Abdulrazzaq and thenAkerbloma lap later with
the Swede then dropping to third.
Kasza’s remarkable drive jumped him from
nowhere in the standings at race start to take
third overall behind Akerblom.
James Bushell hit back in round 2 and powered
to a superb start-to-finish victory inMoto1 and
then recovered from a crash after the start of
Moto 2 that forced him back into the pits to
repair his damaged Ski, fighting his way from
last to finish in 11th to salvage five points and
snatch overall victory from [Moto2] winner
Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq. Third place overall
went to Estonia’s Anton Pankratov.
After the disappointment of breaking down
in round 1, Bushell took revenge, launching
from the start to jump pole-sitter Abdulrazzaq
and led into the first turn from Christophe
Agostinho, Abdulrazzaq and Lars Akerblom.
The front four ran line astern for four laps
when Abdulrazzaq stopped and was eventually
towed off the circuit. Bushell was able to
control the pace of his race from the front
and despite easing off in the latter stages took
his first win of the year by over 20 seconds.
Agostinho enjoyed his best result on the UIM-
ABP tour with second, Akerblom taking a third
consecutive third place finish.
New Zealand’s Carl Lampe was enjoying a
strong outing and running in fourth when
his Moto ended on lap 9 of 16 with a broken
driveshaft, gifting fourth place to Estonia’s
Anton Pankratov, Markus Schick and Patrice
Pellier completing the top six.
InMoto 2 the expected head-to-head between
pole sitter Bushell and Abdulrazzaq in P2 was
short-lived with Bushell’s race compromised
on the run to the first turn when he collided
violently with Akerblom, the coming together
forcing Bushell to pit, Akerblom dropping to
11th his race then coming to a premature end
on lap 6.
At the front it was France’s Agostinho who
coped with the rough conditions best, but his
race ended on lap 4, with Abdulrazzaq hitting
the front and running out a comfortablewinner.
After breaking down in Moto1 Jeremy Perez
turned things around and produced a battling
performance fighting his way up from ninth
to finish in second place, with New Zealander
Carl Lampe enjoying his best outing in only
his second Grand Prix on the UIM-ABP tour,
coming home in third.
France’s Patrice Pellier finished in fourth ahead
of Anton Pankratov, with Johan Johanson
completing the top six.
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