Mulla aims for double delight at UIM C'ship for Team Abu Dhabi

Amir Naqvi, Sports Editor

With Shaun Torrente ready to give his all to clinch the UIM F1 Championship, another Team Abu Dhabi driver Rashid Al Mulla hopes to make it a double title triumph as he bids to successfully defend his Freestyle world crown at the UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship.

Looking to extend his domination, the Emirati ace targets a 10th straight Grand Prix win in Sharjah. The defending champion enters the final round of the series holding a commanding 18-point lead over Italy’s Roberto Mariani, having won the last 21 motos.

Having scored a hat-trick of Grand Prix victories in Sharjah in the last three years, Mulla has looked unbeatable all season and may not need all three motos taking place this week – two on Wednesday and another on Friday – to retain his freestyle crown.

The battle for the final step on the final podium of the season is between Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Tirner and Russia’s Sergey Chemzov, the pair split by just three points.

Mulla’s team-mate Rashed Al Tayer, who has a fighting chance to claim the world Runabout GP1 crown, lying just seven points adrift of Poland’s championship leader, Andrzej Wisniewski.

Tayer might have been out of the running in the Runabout GP title race by now after being forced to contest the last Grand Prix in China on a bike rented locally when his own was held up in customs.

But the Emirati rider shrugged off the handicap and collected enough points to grab a share of second place in the championship with Kuwait’s Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq.

Wisniewski, a 49-year-old from Poland, has arguably been the most consistent rider with six top six finishes including two third places on his way to podiums in Italy and China.

He currently tops the rankings, sits in top spot in the title race on 104 points and is enjoying a stellar season, his best by far on the tour.

In the the Sky Division category, Victory Team’s Kevin Reiterer, who picked up his third Grand Prix title of the year with a perfect scorecard in Qingdao in October and tops the standings with 222 points, will be looking to end the season in style.

The 27-year-old Austrian ace landed his first world crown in Sharjah in his debut UIM-ABP season in 2015 and has a great record on Khalid Lagoon, winning the Grand Prix title three times and all but one moto and will be looking to wrap up his season on a high following a remarkable run since signing with the Dubai outfit in 2018.

The defending champion has an impressive record on the UIM-ABP tour, his 19 Grand Prix outings netting 11 titles, 26 moto wins and two world and European titles.

He topped the prestigious UIM-ABP World Rankings last season and is in an unassailable position to do the same this year.

Meanwhile, Emma-Nellie Ortendahl is within touching distance of the title and possibly making a slice of history.

The two-time world champion has had a remarkable season in which she has dominated a very strong Ladies [Ski] division, lifting all three Grand Prix titles, quickest in all qualifying sessions and unbeaten in all nine motos and tops the points table on 225 needing to outscore her rivals by three points in the first moto to close out the title race.

If she wins all three motos, she will make history becoming the first women to go unbeaten in a season, which she missed in 2016 by one moto.

The aquabikes take to the water on Khaled Lagoon for free practice at 9.30am on Tuesday ahead of the pole position qualifiers at 2.30pm.