ALEX CUDLIN BECOMES 2011 QATAR INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION At Round 6 of the 2011 Qatar International at the weekend (9th of April), 24-year-old, Alex Cudlin, has held the winner’s trophy high overhead claiming his first Qatar International Road Racing Championship. Alex started round 6 in a dominant fashion, topping the opening free practice session, then claiming pole position for the following days two races. Under the heat of the Qatar sun, Alex began race one with a fast start to lead into turn one. Alex then began a battle with current championship number #2 Nasser Al Maiki. Alex’s strategy was to assess the race early on to see where Nasser was strong and where his weaknesses may lay and then make his move mid race. It didn’t take long before Alex produced a number of stunning laps to pull clear of Nasser by over 5 seconds, with 3 laps remaining. Alex then made a slight mistake entering turn one and ran off the track, rejoining the race just 2 tenths ahead of a fast charging Al Maiki. Alex then proceeded to display his dominance to cross the line ahead of Nasser and win the 2011 Qatar International Road Racing Championship. “I’m really happy to have won this Championship. It’s one of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year and I’m proud to say I’m the Champion of Qatar.” “In 2010 I finished second in the Qatar Championship. I won 4 races that season and during my off season I thought about it a lot. I wanted to come back in 2011 to win it and show I was a true Champion here. This season really went perfectly. Out of the 12 races we had, I won 11 of them, finished 3rd one, claimed pole position at every round, and didn’t have a single DNF, so I’m pretty happy with that. I dominated the racing here this season with an almost perfect score, but the win at the end is just brilliant” said Cudlin. “In terms of today’s 1st race, everything went to plan. I was told by my team that all I had to do was finish in the points and I would become the new Qatar Champion, but as soon as the lights went out, I wanted to win the race. I felt it would be even sweeter if I not only won the Championship, but did it by winning the race and that’s what I did. I had created a good gap from the start, but with 3 laps to go I clicked a false neutral coming down the gears into turn one and I ran off the track. It was a stupid mistake really, probably happened because I was getting excited, but I rejoined just in front of my Championship competitor. To win the race I had to pull out all the stops and have an incident free 3 laps. I managed to do it and I pulled off a win and the Championship” said Cudlin. The action didn’t stop there for Alex though. With just 1 hour to reset, Alex lined up on the grid for the second race of the day. Alex again got off to a good start and renewed his fight with Nasser Al Maiki. The two racers began quickly gapping the rest of the field as they began to fight each other for the race 2 victory. Alex again proved that he was indeed the champion by winning race 2 by 6.6 seconds, claiming another perfect weekend for Cudlin – pole position, and 2 race wins, plus a championship in the bag. “Race 2 was fun for me. I was riding with the title of the new Qatar Champion, so of course I wanted to win the last race. I had another battle with Nasser but pulled a good gap to win the race. I’m pretty happy with my score card this weekend. Thanks must go to the team, QMMF, for giving me a great bike that was capable of winning and of course my fantastic mechanics who built the bike for me. Without these two ingredients, I may not have had such a great result. I also wish to thank my loyal sponsors, family and friends for their support as well” gushed a happy Cudlin. Alex didn’t have any time to celebrate his championship win, with his attention now turned to the first round of the 2011 Endurance Superstock World Cup this coming weekend in France, in which he will be defending his number one plate. Alex will be riding for the QMMF sponsored QERT team in the Round 1 at the famous Bol Dor 24 hour.