HAIL — Ahmed Al-Shegawi's joy at winning the opening leg of the Hail Nissan International Rally was short lived when the Saudi incurred a time penalty for a route infringement and dropped from second overall to 25th after Friday's first selective section. The decision promoted Khalid Al-Fraihi to second overall and Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani into the top 10. Overall leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi was declared the winner of the stage. Al-Shegawi and his Emirati navigator Arif Yousef Mohammed were the surprise winners of the opening leg. The Nissan pairing clocked a time of 1hr 26min 05sec on the 123.40km selective section to beat super special stage winners, Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German navigator Timo Gottschalk, by 1min 06sec. Following all the drama Al-Rajhi maintained his overall lead, which he will take into the final three days of Saudi Arabia's premier motor sporting event. The four-time winner complained that he had lost his way for a time and also suffered a minor engine issue on his Hummer. "It was not the best of days and we didn't get the stage win, but I'm well placed to push again tomorrow and maintain the overall lead," said Al-Rajhi. Sitting second at the overnight halt is the Saudi Nissan driver Khalid Al-Fraihi, while T2 leader Meshaal Al-Saeedi is third, also driving a Nissan. The title sponsoring Japanese car manufacturer has no less than seven cars inside the unofficial top 10. Friday's special started 25.71km from Hail at As Sufon before finishing at Camb Al-Dolo'o, 88.4km from the overnight halt. Although short by Hail standards, it was a tricky stage nonetheless and several drivers experienced problems. After suffering overheating woes on the road section to today's stage, Bahrain's Hassan Al-Sadadi failed to start in his Predator Buggy, which he had built himself with backing from Oman's Nizar Al-Shanfari. There were delays for former winner Ibrahim Al-Muhanna and Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, who started the special from third place and was running quickest at one point on the stage until he dropped over an hour with mechanical issues. Qatar's Sheikh Hamed Bin Eid Al-Thani began the day from second position on the road in his Nissan, but the 1993 FIA Middle East rally champion could not match the pace of some of the local drivers and reached the finish with the 13th quickest time after losing ground over the closing kilometers. The Qatari reached the stage finish 53 seconds in front of Lebanon's Emil Khneisser in his Nissan Middle East-backed Patrol running in the T2 category. Al-Thani and Khneisser are now 10th and 12th overall. Ahmed Al-Sabban is celebrating 25 years in motor sport with the No. 25 displayed on his Ford Raptor. The Saudi clocked the 20th quickest time on the day's stage and holds an unofficial 18th overall. The UAE duo of Khalid Al-Jaflah and Ahmed Malik continued to lead the T3 category in their Yamaha and posted a time of 1hr 39min 48sec. Eight quads and the solitary Honda 450 motorcycle of Ahmed Al-Nasser began the event. Victory on the super special stage to determine the starting order Thursday afternoon had fallen to Hamad Abdullah Fahad-Hdayyan. He started in front of one of the pre-rally favorites and last year's quad category winner Abdul-Majeed Al-Khulaifi. But Al-Khulaifi was not to be denied on this occasion and the Saudi Kawasaki rider won the special. Abdulsalam Rami Hamam was second on a Yamaha quad, but Al-Nasser suffered problems on his two-wheel Honda. The rally is being staged under the patronage of Prince Saud Bin Abdul Mohsen Bin Abdul Aziz, governor of Hail, president of the Supreme Commission for Hail Development and the head of the Supreme Commission of the Hail Rally. The SAMF runs under the chairmanship of Prince Sultan Bin Bandar Al-Faisal and the event is being organized in conjunction with the High Authority for the Development of Hail. The competition becomes much more difficult Saturday, when drivers and riders tackle the longer 216.40km selective section through the An Nafud Desert that loops around the start and finish area in Baqa'a. The action gets underway for the cars at 09.45 a.m. after a 110.2km road liaison section from the overnight halt at the Maghwat Conference Centre.
