Jenkins Still Searching For Consistency in Qatar
Courtesy of ADRL
DOHA, QATAR – During the two-week break from racing in the Arabian Drag Racing League, Shannon Jenkins spent most of his time in front of his laptop studying graph after graph, in search of the problems that had plagued his Al-Anabi Racing’s Camaro during the first three races in December at Qatar Racing Club (QRC).
Although Jenkins was confident he found what he was looking for, testing and qualifying produced nothing but tire shakes and headaches. Jenkins made the necessary adjustments on race day, but a red light in the semifinals ended his stay in Round Four last week.
During the round, the “Iceman” got the best of Isaias Rojas when he used an incredible reaction time of .006 and a stellar 3.88 at more than 195 miles per hour to advance to the semifinals. There he met points leader Khalid Al-Balooshi, and Jenkins’ second 3.88 was negated by the disappointing red light.
“I’m very disappointed with the red light for the Al-Anabi team and for my crew, but that’s just racing. We had a car that could have won this race, but we didn’t, so we’re just going to focus 100 percent on next week, and find a way to get the job done,” said Jenkins.
Mahana Al-Naimi, Jenkins’ teammate, wheeled his Al-Anabi Racing ’68 Camaro to a No. 2 qualifying spot, but eliminations yielded similar results as to what the “Iceman” experienced in his semifinal matchup.
In the opening round of eliminations, Mahana had lane choice over Al-Anabi teammate Burton Auxier. Mahana had a great run of 3.95 at more 191 mph, but he left with the red light glowing in his lane as well, giving Auxier the opportunity to race in the semifinals.
“As I’ve said many times before, Mahana is doing a great job driving this race car. He just pushed the tree a little too much as I did myself,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins is currently in third in the points standings at the halfway mark of the season, but after a frustrating December where he still earned a win, Jenkins finally feels on the right path.
“We learned a lot this weekend and finally got these two cars to make some consistent runs, so I’m looking forward to next week, because we are going to try to get both of these cars in the final round,” Jenkins said.
“I have spent countless hours in front of this computer, studying run after run, trying to find these gremlins. I’m very confident in what I have found. We just have to make run after run until we get this race car happy and consistently fast.”
Round Five and the conclusion of the two-race January swing at QRC begins Thursday, with eliminations taking place on Friday.
