After two days of racing and a prologue with a total of over 450km of challenging stages, Konrad Dabrowski (Duust KTM) comfortably won the Qatar International Baja and the Junior classification in the penultimate round of the FIM Bajas World Cup. Abdulaziz Al-Ahli victory in the quad category ahead of reigning champion Hani-Noumesi.
From the Prologue, the young Polish rider dominated all his competitors on terrain where navigation was, as always, very difficult. The fastest time on the Prologue allowed Dabrowski to choose the best starting position for the first special stage; he opted for 10th position while Mohammed Al Balooshi (KTM) was eighth. The task of opening the track fell to Harith Noah, Rafic Eid, and Simon Marcic.
Taking advantage of his navigation experience and his start position, Dabrowski crushed his rivals and finished the first stage 20min 16sec ahead of the German Philip Horlemann, despite a navigation error and a rear brake problem.
“About 17 km from the finish, I went 15km too far,” explained Dabrowski. “Apart from that, I had a very smooth race. Ten kilometres after the start, I think a stone hit my rear brake. It damaged the screw and I didn’t have a rear brake for the entire stage.”
British rider Alex McInnes moved up to second place in the overall standings on a Husqvarna, with Horlemann in third.
On Saturday, Dabrowski led the way from start to finish to secure his third victory in four years (2022, 2023, and 2025). He demonstrated remarkable maturity in managing his pace and navigating from the front to clinch a well-deserved win.
“I’m really happy,” commented the young Pole. “Stella gave me a hard time today in the dunes. The GPS we use here recorded the checkpoint 20km before, and as a result, it wasn’t calibrated to open the arrow indicating the next point I was heading towards. So, I had no idea where I was. I still won the stage because Alex (McInnes) missed some waypoints and incurred penalties. This means I’ve won all nine stages I’ve competed in here. Qatar seems to suit me. It’s a great confidence boost before the Dakar.”
McInnes (Husqvarna) had followed and caught Dabrowski, then got lost towards the end of the second stage. Missing crucial waypoints cost McInnes the stage win and second place in the Baja. He received a 45-minute penalty and finished seventh overall.
McInnes said: “I missed a couple of waypoints at the end and I messed everything up. The GPS detected a waypoint too early and I couldn’t go back. That’s where I lost time.”
Second place in stage two went to Harit Noah (Sherco), 2min 28.3sec behind the winner, followed byAl-Baloosh, 5min 11.6sec behind. Despite a GPS malfunction on the first day and getting lost, the Dubai native took another giant step towards a fourth FIM Baja World Cup title. He finished second overall, followed by Qatar debutant Jean-Loup Lepan. Briton Makis Rees-Stavros, German Philip Horlemann, and Michael Anderson completed the top six. Al-Balooshi's main rival for the title, Rafic Eid, finished 13th.
In the quad category, Al-Ahli finished ahead of Saudi Arabian rider Hani-Noumesi. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi was third, but Qatari Yaghoob Azadi retired due to mechanical problems on the final stage.
In the Women's category, only Joanna Modrzewska finished, while in the Junior category, Dabrowski took the victory ahead of McInnes and Gerlach. Among the Veterans, the award went to Al-Balooshi.
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