News 12 May 2010

RR: Alex Cudlin victorious again in Qatar championships

Australia’s Alex Cudlin has continued his impressive 2010 podium streak at round six of the Qatar International Road Racing Championships last weekend.

After winning round one of the World Endurance Superstock Championships at the Le Mans 24 hours in France just three weeks ago, Cudlin was planning on continuing his winning form.

In Qatar, Cudlin set the third fastest time in qualifying and sealed a front row start, confident of producing a good result in the two night races.

In race one Cudlin leapt off the start, to enter the first turn in third position, but quickly made an attack to the front and by the end of the first lap Cudlin was in first position, followed closely by his teammate, Frenchman Anthony Delhalle.

Cudlin and Delhalle raced toe and toe, swapping the lead many times during the race. The pace the two front runners were setting was the fastest pace the Qatar International Championship had seen and each rider was not letting up. The pressure was intense between the two riders, but Delhalle managed to win the race, followed by Cudlin in a close second.

After having such a good battle in race one Cudlin was determined to win the second race. Alex worked with his mechanics and made a slight adjustment to the suspension for race two in the hope he could close out his teammate and claim victory.

In race two, the lights turned green and instantly Cudlin and Delhalle leapt away from the rest of the field once again. The battle was a repeat of the first intense jaunt, with both riders pushing the pace to a higher level.

Cudlin and Delhalle were setting a blistering pace and providing a great show for the Qatari spectators. With the pressure and pace so high, Delhalle made a mistake, running wide with just 10 laps remaining. Cudlin then proceeded to push hard and control the race to cross the line victorious.

” They were such fun races. After qualifying, my team made a big change to my suspension and in morning warm up I tested it and it worked better,” Cudlin said. “I knew from that point on I could win this weekend. In race one the battle was tough. We were running faster laps times then either of us had done previously and Anthony come off the stronger rider.

“I was determined to not let that happen in race two. We made a further change to the bike and it went even better than before. I was running an even faster pace than in race one and when Anthony ran wide I knew I could control the race to the finish line.

“I’m really happy with the result. I’m 38 points behind in the championship standings after missing the first three races at the start of the year, but with 50 points up for grabs at the final round in three weeks time, anything is possible, and mathematically I could still win the title. It should make for some more exciting and intense racing.”

After racing 11 races in 2010, Cudlin has a record of 10 podium finishes, complete with four wins and six second places.

Cudlin will now fly to Spain in preparation for round two of the World Endurance Championship, the 8 hour at Albacete on 22 May, where Cudlin and the QERT team currently lead the Superstock series.

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