The Monday after Gainesville, Ang and I had plans to fly to Qatar to help some folks over there. We shipped Ang’s orange bike overseas. She was a little disappointed at first, but after her outing at Gainesville, I think she is perfectly happy with the decision. Our flight was 12 hours long, and I must say that we made it fun. It was Dad, Ang, Melissa, myself, and some others from the Al-Anabi Pro Mod team. We landed at 8 p.m. Qatar time. Immediately, we went to the shop to work on the guy’s bike I had been helping out. We finally got to the hotel about 2 a.m., and we were so tired. We checked into the Millennium Hotel in Doha, and let me just say WOW!!! It was so beautiful.

The next day was test day. We arrived at the track around 3 p.m. It’s usually so hot that you don’t race until nighttime. I decided to make two passes on the Pro Stock. Ang was my crew girl. She was responsible for taking the clutch out and putting it in, starting me, and lining me up. The first pass it went 6.99, and second pass it went 6.97. I was ready for race day. I helped the other guy with his bike. We put new wheelie bars on it because the bike was hard to control after the 330’. I think he loved them after his first pass. He went 7.29 first pass out of the trailer. His times continued to get faster every pass.

Thursday was qualifying. We had two qualifying passes on Thursday and one on Friday afternoon. Both of the Al-Anabi bikes were qualified No. 1 in each class. I think Sheik Khalid was happy with those results. I ran 6.99 and 6.95 at 306 kilometers. Yeah you read it right. I went 306. Ha, ha!! Everything was in kilometers, so we had to calculate the mph out. It was about 190 mph. We had dinner with all the Pro Mod guys at Applebee’s. The food was very similar. There is nothing the same as our good ole’ American food. I was very cautious what I ordered. I only had chicken. We went back to the hotel for a good nights rest. Race day was the next day.

It was race day, and it was hotter than it had been all week. The air temp was 96 degrees, but it felt about 110. It was so hot they contemplated canceling the third session of qualifying. They didn’t, so Ang and I decided to sit out the “hot pass.” Racing started about 5p.m. First round, I had a little mishap. One of the wires arched off the carbon fiber and started shutting off the bike half way through the run. I looked over and didn’t see the other bike, so I stayed in the gas. Needless to say, I won the round. That was some sweat off my back. I would have been devastated if I would have lost over a problem that small. Ang and I got the bike back to the pits and repaired the wire. We had a bye to the final. Second round I was just hoping that we fixed the problem and that I didn’t hurt the transmission on the first run. I went a 6.98, and I was stoked that the bike was fixed. Third round I had to race an Outlaw bike like Ang and I used to ride several years ago. He had made some great passes, going two 7.0s. I knew I had to just do my job. I had a good light and never looked back. I went 6.96 to his 7.47. The whole Al-Anabi team was happy. Everyone was so nice, and everyone celebrated with us. I did multiple interviews for TV stations. It was great. They had a winner’s circle and everything. It was very similar to NHRA stage. I got a large trophy and some Royals. What are Royals? That is the type of money they have over in Qatar. We got back at the hotel around 3 a.m. Everyone told us to not go to sleep. We stayed up all night until we had to leave for the airport at 6 a.m. We boarded our plane and arrived in the good ole’ U S of A around 3 p.m.

We had a great time in Qatar. It was my first experience in Qatar. Ang was happy she went also. Their customs are different over there, but both of us felt very safe. They are truly good people. We visited the mall one day before the track, and it was huge. One mall over there is equivalent to 5 malls here. It had everything from low-end stores to Tiffany & Co., Gucci, and Harry Winston. Ang and Melissa were in heaven, but Ang didn’t buy anything. Another thing that is unique to their country is that the people are not shy about blowing their horns. They do it at stoplights, leaving the hotel, and anywhere else they feel it’s necessary. If they did that here in America there would be some very mad Americans. Mike Castellano and Ang decided to get in a beeping horn match in the cab. It was quite comical. Their public restrooms were extremely clean. They had a facility similar to our hospitality at the race that was for those people with Sheik Khalid. It was air conditioned and had long white drapes, TVs, food, drinks, and very fancy chairs. We had a great time and hopefully will get to go back again. Everyone was so nice to every single one of us. Just want to say thank you to Sheik Khalid for flying us over and taking care of us during our stay in Qatar.