Egypt hosted the first Arab Motorcycling Championship, reports Ghada Abdel-Kader The UAE clinched the title on both individual and team levels. Led by Mohamed Al-Balushi, Ahmed Mubarak and Ali Al-Qubaisi the Emirates took the first three positions in individual and team events. In the team event, Kuwait came second and Saudi Arabia and Algeria shared third. Egypt was fourth. The 27 May to 1 June tournament, under the auspices of the National Sports Council and organised by the Egyptian Motorcycle Federation, is the first Arab Motorcycling Championship. And it's not the end of the road. It consists of two rounds. This championship is the first phase. The second phase will be in Tunisia on 7 November after which the champion will be chosen. Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, Kuwait, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates were the entries. The 30-participant rally, called the enduro desert race, was an 80-kilometre jaunt on the Cairo- Bahariya Oasis road. The race was divided into two stages of 40 kms each. The starting point was the same as the finish line. The tournament attracted a large number of dignitaries from Egypt and the Arab world as well as Arab and foreign media. "In this championship, Egypt's result was very good. Most of the participating federations were established 20 or 30 years ago," said director of the Egyptian Motorcycle Federation (EMF) and vice president of the Motorcycle Union of the Mediterranean countries Ibrahim Farid. "EMF is a new federation, recognised by Ministerial Decree No 686 only in July 2005." As for the champions, Al-Balushi, the 30-year-old UAE champion at the 2009 UAE Motocross Championship, started racing seriously in 2002, when he participated in the Motocross local Championship and came in seventh. In 2003, he was selected Best UAE Motocross Rider after his participation in the Red Bull Super X which was held for the first time in the capital Abu Dhabi. Al-Balushi won the UAE Motocross Championship in 2005, 2006 and came fourth in 2007. He is the defending champion of the Kuwaiti and Bahraini Motocross championships and is getting ready to participate in the full 2009 regional Motocross Championships and selected races in Europe. Al-Balushi is waiting for the opportunity to prove his skills in international competitions and realise his biggest dream, that of becoming an international motocross champion and representing his country internationally. Mubarak began his racing career in 1998 and, apart from bikes, has also competed in off-road rallies in the UAE and GCC, riding off with second place in the Kuwait Motocross Championship in the MX Class. Al-Qubaisi, the third member of the team, has also done well for himself over the years having been placed third overall in the MX Class in Kuwait, apart from securing podiums on two occasions in enduros like the one he participated in Cairo. The Arab Motorcycle Federation was founded in Tunisia in November 2008. The EMF is one of the founders of the AMI. Farid is also a member of the AMF "During the inaugural conference in Tunisia, the EMF proposed to host the first Arab championship because the AMF did not have enough resources," Farid said. The EMF is preparing for the Mediterranean Motocross Championship from 17-22 November in Algeria. Three Egyptian riders are participating.
