DUBAI // Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir bin Hendi of the Fazza team beat the Spirit of Dubai duo to win the Dubai Duty Free Speed Cat Run at DIMC Mina Seyahi on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the Fazza duo, who are aiming to secure the series championship at the final round of the UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Series, also claimed victory in the race for the pole position on Saturday.
“We are very happy to have won both the pole position and the Speed Cat run,” Al Zaffain said. “I made a plan with my team and my friend Nadir is back with me in the boat, which helps because we have the same mentality.
“Also, it’s great to race back in Dubai, where all the people are supporting us and urging us to give more and more. We are very confident for [today]. We’ll push hard from the start.”
In the Speed Cat competition, the Fazza boat defeated Six’s Tomaso Polli and Matteo Nicolini, then eliminated Mohammed Al Nasr and Abdulrahman Al Nasser of the Qatar Team in the second round.
Fazza ousted Joakim Kumlin and Daniel Svenson of Team Westerlund in the semi-finals and then overcame Spirit of Dubai’s Rashid Al Marri and Ahmed Hassan in the final.
In qualifying, Al Zaffain and Bin Hendi recorded a fast lap of two minutes, 30.6 seconds, less than a second ahead of Skydive Dubai teammates Sultan Al Dhaheri and Jay Price.
The Victory Team boat of Talib Al Sayed and Salem Al Adidi finished third.
“It was good,” Bin Hendi said. “My throttleman [Al Zaffain] pushed me to the limit, but I enjoyed it.”
Of his return to competition after two years, Bin Hendi said: “I missed it, but I still have the touch. I didn’t lose it.”
sports@thenational.ae
