After the inaugural race at the race purpose track in Benin, it is safe to say the biking community has been agog with the events of that sunny Saturday in November 2017.
As a result, there has been an increase in the number of participants set to compete in 2018. To ensure the safety of all riders, only ten (10) riders will be eligible to race in each category on race day.
The organizers have set three (3) weekends during the year before race day, February 24th, May 26th and August 25th, for qualifiers. Riders can partake in all qualifying rounds over the aforementioned dates.
There were additional changes to the qualifying format, riders had two (2) flying laps that were recorded together. As a result, to put the times in perspective, I will have to divide the lap times by 2 – I know very inaccurate and unofficial.
The 600cc category had a total of three (3) race teams and two (2) independent riders bringing the total numbers on the grid for the first run out to seven (7). There were four (4) ladies competing for a position on the grid come November 24. Incredible achievement for biking as a whole if I do say so myself.
It was a decent run out for all involved, The defending 600cc champion laid a marker down by running an incredibly fast time of 2:36.72, approximately 1:18.36 which to put in perspective was faster than the fastest time set by Argo in qualifying last year in the 1000cc category.
No surprises that behind him was BadBlood and Blow respectively. Sensing a pattern here No? Shout out to Lolu, Akua, Queen and Flygirl. First timers without much practice on the track and they put in some serious work.
Name Team Bike Time (2 laps combined)
Ahmed Alpacino 24-7 racing Honda CBR 600 2:36.72
Badblood Kawasaki ZX-6R 2:43:24
Blow CC racing Kawasaki ZX-6R 2:48.32
Lolu CC racing Honda CBR 600 3:06.87
Aqua 4eva racing 3:15.98
Queen Honda CBR 600 3:17.79
Flygirl 24-7 racing Honda CBR 600 3:43.42
See 1000cc qualifier report here
