UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Series - Room for improvement?

by Karien Jonckheere on 6 Dec 2014 At the 2014 UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Series, despite completely dominating proceedings by winning every race so far, the Fazza team of Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir bin Hendi believe there is still room for improvement.

The duo have one more race to win – in Dubai from December 11-13 – to complete a season clean sweep and have been hard at work in preparing for the Series finale – the Emirates Airline XCAT GP at DIMC.

'Like always, we have done our homework. When the boats were not available for testing, we reviewed all the data obtained from the previous races and identified a few areas where we believe we can still improve,' said Bin Hendi.

The Fazza team will be testing out the newly developed, reliable 350Hp XCAT Mercury four stroke engines (which will be adopted for the 2015 season) during the race and are looking forward to a new challenge. And even though they are guaranteed the overall 2014 Series title, thanks to the massive lead they have notched up on the points table, Al Zaffain and Bin Hendi have lost none of their motivation to reach the top of the podium once again.

'Wow, we are always happy and excited to retain the championship title but we always see room for improvement so we are always motivated,' reckoned Al Zaffain, adding that the duo also relish the opportunity of racing on home water.

'Being racers, we have to cope with all kind of conditions. We like any conditions, especially Dubai as our home ground. We always like to bring the best results on our home ground and we are pretty much confident of doing that.'

XCAT action will get underway on Thursday, December 11 with Official Practice before the race for Emaar Pole Position takes place on the morning of Friday, December 12. The thrilling head-to-head drag race-type Dubai Duty Free Speed Cat Run will then kick off later that afternoon. The main event of the weekend, the Emirates Airline XCAT GP, will take place on the afternoon of Saturday, December 13.

Entrance for the public areas is free of charge and, as always, there will be plenty on offer to keep the crowds entertained with exciting activities both on and off the water in between racing, a kids’ fun zone, heritage village and other attractions.

Also, for the first time, the Ripe Food and Craft Market will be involved with the event, giving visitors to the XCAT village area the opportunity to browse and buy a variety of items ranging from the best locally grown, organic fruits and vegetables to cheeses, honey, nuts, spices and oils as well as art, crafts and photography, household items, jewellery and beauty products.

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