From the start of the Prologue, British Junior rider Alex McInnes demonstrated his skill and his thirst for victory. He brilliantly won the Prologue and both special stages through the An Nafud desert region, leaving his rivals far behind, to claim his second successive win at the Saudi Baja.
In the quad category, defending FIM champion Hani Al-Noumesi climbed to the top step of the podium.
On Thursday, riders tackled the six-kilometre Prologue in reverse order. The sandy track and steep, broken rocky paths presented challenges. McInnes (KTM) was quickest ahead of Saudi Arabia's Haitham Al-Tuwwayjiri on a quad and Jordan's Abdullah Abuaisheh (Yamaha). The Briton chose to start the first special stage from 10th position.
The two special stages ran for 240 and 150 kilometres respectively and took place on sandy tracks interspersed with very short off-road sections. Rain in recent days helped somewhat with traction in the sand.
Friday’s opener was very fast with victory falling to McInnes with a 16min 15sec lead over Sultan Al-Balooshi (Kove), who received a two-minute penalty for speeding. After his crash and retirement from the Dakar Rally, Mohammed Al-Balooshi (KTM) was getting back into the swing of things but, shortly before refuelling, his hand caused him pain again. He, nevertheless, finished third, 20min 11sec behind the winner.
Starting last, in 34th position, Abdullah Al-Shatti (Kawsaaki) finished fourth, despite a four-minute speeding penalty. With Sarah Khuraibet absent, the only woman present, Joanna Modrzewska, finished 23rd. The first quad, operated by Hani Al-Noumesi, finished 14th. There was bad luck for Jatin Jain, who couldn't start his Kove in the morning, and for Michael Anderson, whose foam melted after 30km and he was forced to retire.
The second stage on Saturday started at the 60km points of the opening stage and followed the same track. The only Junior, McInnes finished it with ease, securing his second consecutive Saudi Baja victory by more than 30 minutes over his rivals, the Al-Balooshi brothers.
Mohammed, third in SS2, took second place on the podium alongside his brother Sultan, who finished third, 27 seconds behind.
“Some time ago,” explained Mohammed Al Balooshi, four-time winner of the FIM Baja Cup, “I considered not participating in the Saudi Baja because of my injury from the Dakar Rally. But I’m happy to have overcome the pain, finished in second place and scored valuable World Cup points.”
Abdulhalim Al-Mogeera finished SS2 in second place, which allowed him to move up to fourth in the overall standings. Joanna Modrzewska finished in 18th place in the Bikes category. Mohammed Al Balooshi won the Veteran category in front of Thomas Blackburn and Rafic Eid.
In the Quad category, victory went to Hani Al-Noumesi, ahead of Abdulaziz Al-Atawi and Ahmed Al-Jaber.
All results and information are available on SPORTITY - code SB26FIM