We received this letter in response to editor Jeff Burk’s News & Analysis. We will continue to look into the matter.

Dear editor,

My name is Yasser Abdulla and I am the general secretary, Clerk of course of BDRC (Bahrain Drag Racing Club), I gotta back up the sheikh in some of the points about the track prep, but as a club we were certain that we could prep the track and it would be ready the next day for qualifying! As you all might know, our track was half prepped due to the lack of time, and because a week ago we had our annual F1 event which is the main reason behind having this kind of facility in the first place. When there is an F1 event in Bahrain, everyone is busy doing something and helping out in the event, and as for drag racing, all you can see is an empty road with no race control, no sensors, no Christmas tree, etc. To cut a long story short, you will never see anything related to drag racing during an F1. And a week is not enough to some, but it was enough for people working day and night for the love of drag racing.

Actually no one from Al-Anabi had something to do or duty the next day, but the team made a decision to leave instantly! And they didn't give BDRC the chance to prep the track the way we as a club do it in every event, so what happened is exactly as follows: the silicone track filler was approved by David, track prep in charge of Qatar Race Club on the fourth round of our championship, but wasn't approved on the fifth round by Bahrain 1 and Al-Anabi! So it was my duty to take care of track prep, as I told the teams that the track would be ready for qualifying, but it’s not my duty to postpone or cancel the event because I was 100% right that the track could be prepared professionally, and it’s for the teams to take part in the event or not.

I got Pro Mod team SPG to be the first to sign in and register their cars, and soon Bahrain 1 followed, but Al-Anabi wasn't there! So the next day we saw qualifying, and on race day I had three Pro Mods that were clocking (NOS 6.18 ET, 6.20 ET) and the blower was clocking 6.11 ET and it wasn’t a full run as he let go way before the finish line because it was a bye run. While other classes were still breaking their records and still in the single-digit ET club!

In my point of view, BDRC made the right decision not to postpone or cancel especially when we have more than eighty cars/bikes taking part and registering in all classes in the fifth round. But whatever teams agree whether to stay or to leave is none of the club’s concern. Because it’s not in the hands of a team manager to tell another team’s manager that the event would be postponed or cancelled especially when we have all these sponsors and classes with full fields.

I personally spoke to Howard Moon, Rickie Smith, and Von Smith and tried my best to convince them not to leave and asked them to just wait ‘til tomorrow, but unfortunately they declined and were busy putting their cars on the trailers. While SPG and Bahrain 1 were busy preparing their cars to race in the same time!

Again, it’s not in the hands of team’s managers to force the event to get postponed or cancelled.

Yasser Abdulla
Kingdom of Bahrain