Fazza throw title race wide open

Dubai boat wins penultimate round to leave everything open for final race in Fujairah
Dubai
The Victory Team-owned Fazza came up with a dominating performance to win the penultimate race and hoist themselves at the top of the standings in the 2012 UIM X-Cat World Series at the Dubai International Marine Club on Saturday.
Lagging behind by just eight points at the end of three rounds, the Dubai pairing of Arif Al Zafeen and Mohamad Al Marri led from start to end to pick up maximum 400 points and go clear at the top of the overall standings with 1217 points.
The Qatar Team who had been in the lead with 825 points at the end of three rounds, finished in distant sixth to pick up 95 points for a total of 920 points to stay within striking distance of the title when the fifth and final round is held in Fujairah next weekend.
The top three teams received their trophies from Ahmed Mohamad Bin Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of DIMC along with board members Ahmed Habroosh Al Rumaithi, Ali Nasser Bel Habbala, Mohamad Al Ayali, Mohamad Saeed Al Tayer, Race Director Mohamad Hareb, Huraiz Bin Huraiz and Ahmed Ibrahim from the Fujairah International Marine Club.
But pursuing Fazza for the honours is the Swiss-American combination of Omar Daniel and Gary Ballough in their Mouawad boat as they stand in second overall with 1050 points, thanks to a consecutive second place finish on Saturday.
“We are meant to be number one and that is what we are hoping for when we go to Fujairah,” beamed Arif Al Zafeen.
“This boat is new and an amazing piece of work. We have made some modifications on it and that has helped us to go even faster. Next week is going to be an interesting race in Fujairah,” the driver predicted.
There was no doubting Fazza’s superiority in Saturday’s race as they led from the start with Mouawad and the Abu Dhabi Racing Team of Scott Gillman and Ahmed Ali Al Hamli in hot pursuit. But as the 12-lap race went on, it was evident that Fazza was much too difficult to catch.
“They were simply too fast today,” Omar Daniel admitted.
“But we will be trying our best in the last race in Fujairah if we are to challenge for the season title,” the Swiss driver said.

Overall standings at the end of the fourth race held at the DIMC on Saturday:
1. Fazza (1217pts)
2. Mouawad (1050)
3. Qatar Team (920)
4. Extreme Marine (662)
5. Abu Dhabi Racing Team (521)
6. Spirit of Abu Dhabi (389)
7. Consul Brokers (307)
8. Marine Investmenti Sud (224)