LAS VEGAS, USA: Qatar’s Al-Anabi driver Khalid Al Balooshi will be eyeing a second victory in Las Vegas this weekend for the fifth of six races in the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Play-offs and the second-to-last race of the season. Qualifying is set for today and tomorrow with eliminations scheduled for Sunday.
In the 13th race near Denver, Colorado, alBalooshi captured the first round win of his Top Fuel career taking out seven-time NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel World Champion Tony Schumacher. Two races later in Seattle, Washington, alBalooshi began a string of six-straight events at which he advanced to the second round.
Then earlier this month in Pennsylvania, the rookie driver from Dubai advanced to his first-career semifinal and his first-career final round before winning his first-career race as a Top Fuel driver.
Now, alBalooshi is preparing for this weekend’s race in Las Vegas, the same track on which he clinched last year’s NHRA Pro Mod championship. With a race win under his belt, alBalooshi will approach the last two races of the season differently. His goals have changed.
“My goal for this season was to learn enough and become a good enough driver to win one of the 23 races,” alBalooshi said.
“I knew our team could do it; I knew I could do it. For so long, things did not go our way, but little by little we found our racing luck; we got better and better. To win a race is incredible. Now that we won our first race, we want to win more. Our new goal is to win again this season. This week when I go to the race track, I will feel different. I will be relaxed, and our team will have less pressure. In Las Vegas, we will all feel better about our season and ourselves,” he added.
The Al-Anabi and reigning NHRA Top Fuel World Champions owned by Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani, silver team and driver Shawn Langdon are still mathematically in contention to win the team’s third consecutive NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel World Championship.
Shaun Langdon trails points leader Antron Brown by 140 points with just two races remaining. For Langdon to win the World Championship this season, he must win the season’s last two races and hope the drivers ahead of Langdon are eliminated early at both races. THE PENINSULA
