Rashed gives himself fighting chance to claim world title

Abu Dhabi - Team Abu Dhabi rider Al Mulla edges closer to another freestyle crown with ninth successive Grand Prix victory.

Team Abu Dhabi's Rashed Al Tayer has given himself a fighting chance to claim a first world aquabikes title after a dramatic climax to the Grand Prix of Qingdao in China.
Forced to ride a locally rented bike with his own race engine held up in customs, Rashed shrugged off the handicap to emerge from a demanding weekend within seven points of new Runabout GP1 championship leader Andrzej Wisniewski of Poland.
Team Abu Dhabi's Rashid Al Mulla meanwhile tightened his grip on the world freestyle title by clinching a ninth successive Grand Prix victory to extend his championship lead over Italian Roberto Mariani to 18 points.
Rashed can now look forward to December's final Grand Prix of the season in Sharjah knowing that, with 50 points at stake, a repeat of his opening round victory in Portugal could yet be enough to secure the Runabout GP1 crown.
Just as he did 24 hours earlier, the Emirati battled his way to seventh place in Sunday's moto, which was won by Japan's Hajime Isahai.The result gave Rashed sixth place overall in China and lifted him to joint second in the championship with Kuwait's Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq, who followed his race victory on Saturday with fourth place on Sunday to win the Grand Prix.