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More than 7000 people turned out to watch daredevil drivers compete for the Al Ain Dune Championships last weekend. Held over two days, the fourth running of the event featured car and buggy categories.
Organised by the Abu Dhabi Motors Club (ADMC), together with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) and Al Ain Municipality support and held under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister for Presidential Affairs, the event took place around 30km from Al Ain at Al Saad.
The onlookers watched in awe as each competitor was timed in his attempts to get to the top of a tall dune and down the other side. In the Buggy Class, Saif Al Qubaisi triumphed in 6.848 seconds, Mansour Saleh took the four-stroke category in 6.793s, and the Second Class in 6.074s.
Juma Sultan Balkhbays claimed the First Class in the 5.870s it took him to conquer the dune and Mohammad Amir Almashgomi won the Open Class in 5.410s.
In the car categories, Hamdan Al Mazroui of the UAE (Al Yasi Team) won the eight-cylinder class in 6.993s, Mohammad Daif Al Ameri from UAE (Future Team) won the six cylinder (modified) in 7.596s while Jaber Al Shamsi took the standard six cylinder in 11.214s.
The top three winners of the car categories won a Toyota Fortuner car, a bike and prize money respectively.
Faisal Al Shaikh, speaking on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, thanked Shaikh Mansour for his support.
“For the fourth year in a row, visitors’ numbers exceeded expectations and yet again, this popular family event has had a very positive impact on the attraction of Al Ain as a popular area for visitors both from the UAE and abroad,” he said.
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