Dirt
Worth
The Wait
Kuwait Motor Town’s
drag strip opens
By Tim Hailey
36 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Q80 rider Meshal Al-Saber laid down a killer
.002 light and was off to a big lead on his Brad
McCoy-tuned Suzuki in the Pro Bike final. Drag
965’s Mohammed Bourashid had a decent .021
himself and passed Al-Saber when Meshal’s
bike wouldn’t shift. Bourashid then grenaded
his own motor but still had enough steam to leg
out the win.
Mohammed “Big Mo” Al-Awad qualified No.
1 with a William Garner-tuned 4.02 at 284 on
his carbureted bike, but let himself down with a
.221 light against Bourashid in E1.
Bahrain’s Hussain Mohammed won a rousing,
all-white Mustang, Pro Super Street final against
Majed Al-Enazi. It was close at the tree with Al-
Enazi taking a .012 advantage. Both cars raced
side-by-side with steady flames pouring out of
their bullhorns, but in the end it was Mohammed
to the front with a 4.34 at 263 kph to Al-Enazi’s
4.59 at 246. No. 1 qualifier Jaber Al-Magrahbi
(4.24 at 310 kph) lost to Al-Enazi in round 1.
Although their colors varied, Super Street was
also an all-Mustang final. No. 1 qualifier (4.51
at 258) Mohammed Al-Mutairi’s Carolina blue
mount was running like a bracket car, ringing
up a 4.380 in the semis and a 4.388 at 253.94
kph in the final.
Mezher Tannak’s passes were even more tightly
packed—a 5.195 in round 1 and a 5.193 in the
final after taking the tree on a round 2 broke
bye. But compare the two driver’s numbers and
you can see that Al-Mutairi found himself on the
winning end of the pair when the win light came
Issue 143
T
he drag racing-crazed nation of
Kuwait finally saw the opening of its
long-awaited new drag strip at Kuwait
Motor Town Feb. 18-19, and the result
was an over-the-top festival of big horsepower
and good times. Fans overfilled the temporary
bleachers and packed in along the fences—cheer-
ing, jeering, applauding, and overall showing big
love for the sport—even at test & tune!
And drivers delivered on-track action that was
just as big, racing through the night and into the
wee hours of Saturday morning as the Kuwait
International Drag Racing Championship ran
out its ladders for 13 classes.
Bahrain racer Ali Haji bears more than a pass-
ing resemblance to “Léon: The Professional,” so
it’s only fitting that he applied the hit on KMT’s
first Pro Mod race.
Haji normally races his black, split-bumper,
Q80 Racing 1970 Camaro in 4.50 Index, but
entered Pro Mod at this event “for testing.” That
testing excursion landed Haji a cool $30,000US
when No. 1 qualifier Turky Al-Hemady (3.96 at
324) rolled the beams on the two-step in the final
in his true Pro Mod Q80 Racing Camaro.
“I got lucky,” said Haji, who works a day job in
ground operations at the Bahrain airport. “Be-
tween my cars and Turky’s, they are very different
in power.” Haji’s car has run a best of 4.40 and he
expects to be entered back in 4.50 next time out.
Even an old drag racing sage like Bret Kepner
was impressed with KMT’s 4.0 Index class. Basel
Abbas launched his fire engine red Corvette to a
big .072 to .228 lead at the tree in the 4.0 final.
His opponent, No. 1 qualifier Salem Al-Temeemi,
then ran much closer to the dial-in with a 4.35 in
his former Gotham City Pro Mod, but didn’t make
up the difference and Abbas won with a 4.46.