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Excitement took over Bahrain International Circuit yesterday as the sixth round of the Batelco 2000CC Challenge saw excitement like never before as Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa stole the title in both races.
 
The sixth round of the Batelco 2000CC Challenge began at 8am yesterday morning and continued through to 2pm at BIC. Organised by the Circuit Racing Club, sanctioned by the Bahrain Motor Federation, and organised by Bahrain’s leading telecommunications company, Batelco, the Challenge witnessed heated action and competition between top Bahraini and Bahrain-based drivers including Mustafa Al Khan, Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa and Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa.
 
During the qualifiers, Shaikh Jaber was seen dominating the lead, whilst Shaikh Salman took second leaving Al Khan for third place. As for the first race, the starting grid saw Shaikh Jaber start and Shaikh Salman quickly attempt to steal pole position. Failing to do so, he left Shaikh Jaber to take the lead once again. Meanwhile, Al Khan managed to get ahead of Mohammed Saleh and took on Shaikh Salman in a tough struggle which he succeeded in, but only just, as he crossed the finish line a fraction of a second ahead of Shaikh Salman.
 
A thrilling first race was also seen for Bahraini rally legend Abdul Rahman Ghuloom who started from eighth position and worked his up to fifth. However, bad luck headed his way as he faced technical failures setting him back to 13th position.
 
At the end of the first race Shaikh Salman highlighted that he had faced several technical issues with his gear box during the first race which cost him second place. Al Khan was delighted with his second place victory having seen Shaikh Jaber finish the 12-lap race in 15:54.724 minutes.
 
As for the second race, the first seven positions were reversed leaving Rashid Al Jowder to start up front on the grid as Shaikh Jaber began in seventh. Intense competition kicked off from the first lap between Shaikh Salman, Shaikh Jaber and Al Khan as they all fought for pole position and resulted in Shaikh Jaber getting ahead of Al Khan during the second lap and later Shaikh Salman in the third lap to take the lead through to the end of the race. Shaikh Salman had the same misfortune as in the first race and faced technical issues once again leaving Mustafa Al Khan and Mohammed Saleh to take over last year’s champion. Meanwhile, there was fierce competition between the chasing pack as Rashid Al Jowder, Ali Al Kobaisi and Chris Rabie fought for a position in the top five.
 
The sixth round of the season witnessed a change of winds as the rivalry and competition stepped up notch between drivers and saw spectacular racing on the BIC circuit. Tim Birkin rejoined the series having faced problems last round, and a new participation from Bahraini Essa Omran was seen this round as Hisham Al Othman was forced to pull out of the race prior to qualifiers due to mechanical failures. 
 
 
The results at the end of the first race:
 
1. Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa     15:54.724 minutes
2. Mustafa Al Khan                       16:08.475 minutes
3. Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa  16:08.476 minutes
4. Mohammed Saleh                     16:29.385 minutes
5. Ali Al Kobaisi                            16:41.571 minutes
 

The results at the end of the second race:
 
1. Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa     16:02.772 minutes
2. Mustafa Al Khan                       16:22.035 minutes
3. Mohammed Saleh                     16:27.362 minutes
4. Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa  16:32.248 minutes
5. Chris Rabie                              16:52.125 minutes