Experienced Kuwaiti racer Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq came out on top in a thrilling race one for the Dairi Cup on the second day of the UIM-ABP Grand Prix of Indonesia on northern Sumatra’s spectacular volcanic Lake Toba.

In a restarted 22-lap race where the lead changed hands several times, the Kuwaiti became embroiled in a fascinating battle with fellow countryman Rashed Al-Dawas for much of the race and managed to pass his rival near the end to claim 25 points and the early advantage in the Dairi Cup. He pulled clear in the latter stages to earn a winning margin of 8.932 seconds.

Al-Abdulrazzaq said: “Moto 1 started and then we had a red flag after something with the system broke down, so we had to do an extra Moto of 35 minutes. It was very hard. I had a bad start and then I had a really good fight with my team-mate Rashed to the end and got first place in the last few laps.”

Championship leader and Wednesday’s Karo Cup winner Jean-Bruno Pastorello rounded off the podium places and Spain’s Alejandro Molina Miranda and the Karo Cup’s race one winner Rashed Al-Tayer completed the top five on the same lap as the triumphant Kuwaiti. Australia-based Kiwi Kylie Ellmers managed to squeeze past American racer Antony Radetic near the end to grab sixth place.

Yesterday’s Karo Cup, the Dairi Cup and tomorrow’s Samosir Cup will decide the outcome of the 2023 UIM-ABP Endurance World Championship. The Dairi Cup is named after the Dairi Regency, an inland region of Indonesia on the west shore of Lake Toba.

Eighteen aquabikers started the initial 35-minute race on the challenging 2.89km course routed off the shores of the town of Silalahi. They had earlier made their way to the race location on a transfer section from the event’s base camp at Pangururan on Samosir Island and were racing under the ‘United Spirit of Lake Toba’ banner. Local riders Lucky Limanjawa and Kanina Ramadgina and the Hungarian duo of Gyorgy Kasza and Cseke Zsolt were non-starters.

The original start of the race saw Al-Abdulrazzaq and Pastorello leading through the opening laps, but there was a timing issue and the race was red-flagged five laps in while the problem was resolved. Cliff Ellmers had failed to complete a single lap and China’s Chen Shen ground to a halt after his opening tour of the Lake Toba course.

Race one restarted around 30 minutes later and seventeen racers made the start with Cliff Ellmers missing out. Permphon Teerapatpanich made a perfect start and edged ahead of Pastorello, Al-Abdulrazzaq and Al-Dawas through lap one. The leading quartet held their positions through the next couple of laps and then Al-Dawas managed to pass his Kuwaiti rival and snatch third place on lap four. Chen Shen and Italy’s Michele Cadei had already fallen by the wayside.

By lap five, Permphon’s advantage over Pastorello was a slender 1.432 seconds, as Radetic climbed into the top five and Al-Tayer held sixth. Talented Frenchman François Medori was running down in 10th place. The Thai increased his outright lead slightly on lap six and continued to head Pastorello, Al-Dawas, Al-Abdulrazzaq and Radetic until Al-Abdulrazzaq repassed his fellow Kuwaiti on lap seven to regain third.

But the running order changed again on lap eight when Al-Dawas snatched second place from Pastorello and Al-Abdulrazzaq slipped back to fourth, with Molina Miranda moving ahead of Al-Tayer and into sixth behind Radetic.

Al-Dawas was now on a charge and he moved in front of Permphon to take the lead, with Al-Abdulrazzaq also passing the Thai to give the State of Kuwait the top two positions after 10 laps with 16 minutes on the clock. Radetic had also overtaken Pastorello to snatch fourth place with 15 aquabikes still running.

The two Kuwaitis continued to slug it out at the front and just over a second separated them after 12 laps, as Pastorello regained fourth at the expense of Radetic. Kylie Ellmers was running in eighth but Medori slipped back to 13th and eventually struggled at the rear of the field after completing just 15 laps.

Heading into the final few minutes of a pulsating race, the Kuwaiti duo had pulled well clear of their rivals and fastest lap winner Al-Dawas continued to hold the advantage with the gap between them hovering around the one-second mark for lap-after-lap. Permphon continued to fend off a fierce challenge from Pastorello but the Thai’s grip on third place ended on lap 17 when he was overtaken by both Pastorello and Radetic. He then slipped behind Miranda and Al-Tayer on lap 18.

With around three minutes to go and 19 laps on the board, Al-Abdulrazzaq made his move and stole a march on his fellow countryman to snatch the lead, as Pastorello and Radetic maintained third and fourth and Permphon slipped another place to eighth behind Kylie Ellmers.

Al-Abdulrazzaq held on to claim victory by 8.932 seconds from Al-Dawas and Pastorello, Molina Miranda and Al-Tayer rounded of the top five after late issues for Radetic that dropped the American to seventh behind Ellmers. Johan Johansson, Permphon and Aitzol Beristein rounded off the top 10.

Race two starts at 14.00hrs (local time). Lake Toba forms part of the Toba Caldera UNESCO Global Geopark and is one of five UNESCO global geoparks in Indonesia. It is one of Indonesia’s Super Priority Tourism Destinations (DPSP).