Mahmoud Tannir will be revved up to extend his winning streak when the Motorcity UAE Sportbike riders return to action this weekend.
The Vendetta Racing Triumph Daytona 675R racer leads the 600 Class championship table with a 21-point advantage over his closest rival going into Rounds 9 and 10 at the NGK UAE National Race Day at Dubai Autodrome.
Tannir has racked up six wins so far this season and is unbeaten in the past five as the championship heads for the final six races.
While Tannir was reluctant to talk up his title chances he said: "That would be a great achievement, even after four long seasons of racing, but when I see how much I have improved, it makes me very proud of my progress. Also it means a lot to me to win in a sport that no other Lebanese has managed to compete in … well, as far as I know."
The man most likely to spoil the party is Tannir's Vendetta Racing teammate, Alan Boyter, who has won twice this season and is on 95 points.
Also in the hunt, with 92 points, is Steve Blackney (Honda) who will be targeting his first UAE national win in the remaining races.
In the Rookie Cup, a previously dominant Chris Morley (Kawasaki) met his match in Surya Raja (Yamaha) who scored a pair of victories in the last two rounds and he will be keen for a repeat of the feat.
Morley leads the standings with 115 points, with Raja a mere 11 points adrift with 90 points up for grabs in the final six rounds.
Motorcity UAE Sportbikes action starts with qualifying at 10.30am on Friday, with the first race at 3.05pm and race two at 4.55pm.
Also on the bill are races for the NGK UAE GT Championship, UAE Radical Cup and Suzuki Swift Cup. Entry is free.
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Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
Race card
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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