Reigning Motorcity UAE Sportbikes champion Mahmoud Tannir believes the season will go down to the wire even as the Lebanese rider looks to catch leader Surya Raja.
Raja sits 14 points ahead of Tannir with two rounds and four races to go. Last weekend Tannir and Raja showed their class, picking up a first and second place each over the two races and intensifying the drama ahead of the penultimate round.
Tannir admits this season hasn’t gone as well as the last due to some tyre issues, but his performances this weekend showed he is still very much in the hunt to defend his title.
“We’re still glad to have finished first and second, but I would have loved to have taken more points from Raja,” Tannir said. “Having said that, we have four more races to go and I think it will go down to the wire. I think we are going to try and win the next two races or at least stay ahead of Raja. Anything can happen in the next two rounds.
“What I need now is enough time before the next round to work on my set up. Once we are more comfortable we can push a lot more.
“Our pace is very strong, our lap times are strong; so we just need a little bit of fine-tuning. Now we have three weeks before the next round, so maybe we can do one or two practices and concentrate on the perfect set up.
“The points are so close it puts more pressure on me, but I’m hoping my experience from last year will make me feel comfortable and I will have less pressure. My experience allows me to handle the situation a little bit better.”
Tannir won the first race of the day on Friday, taking the lead on the first corner and holding off a staunch challenge from Raja to bag the 25 points. But Raja came back in the second race, taking the lead late and holding on to win, leaving Tannir in second place to collect 20 points.
Although Raja appears to be sitting pretty with 14 points more than Tannir, the Lebanese rider does have one advantage. The rules of the championship dictate that each rider’s worst two finishes over the course of the season are scrapped.
Tannir has had two DNFs so far this season to Raja’s one, meaning that if the season were to end today, Tannir would reclaim his title. Of course, anything can happen in the final two rounds of the competition and Tannir isn’t going to rest his hopes on a technicality
. “I need two first place finishes so I can take points off Raja,” Tannir said.
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