It seems as though Alex Cudlin’s run of bad luck has continued at the final round of the World Endurance championships.

The stage was set for an all out, action packed weekend, as the final round of the World Endurance Championships were to be held for the very first time in the Middle East. With QMMF (Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation) being the title rights sponsor of the World Championships, it was announced early in the year that the final round would take place in Qatar. 

Alex and Team Diablo 666 went to Qatar with one thing on their minds - to get a podium finish. After the disappointment of failing to finish the Bol Dor 24 hour, due to a gearbox failure, the team were ready for a good result.

After coming to grips with the circuit, the team qualified in a respectable 7th position, for the 8 hour race.

Our qualifying times weren’t too bad as a team. We felt like we could all have gone faster, but a few niggling problems stopped that. We knew we had really good race pace, so we were in good spirits for the start of the race", said Alex.

New team rider, Gary Mason, was elected to do the start.

At 2pm the Qatar national flag was raised and the race was under way. After the first hour Gary was running at an exceptional pace and had moved the Diablo 666 team into 5th position. Just as Gary handed the Kawasaki ZX10 Superbike over to Alex for his session, the two leading teams crashed, moving the Diablo Team into 3rd position. Alex then pushed hard during his hour long stint, and moved up to 2nd position, when he received the signal from the pit crew to return to the pits for the next round of pit stops.

"Gary did an awesome job at the start of the race. He pushed hard and rode fast. He handed it to me and we were then in a battle with QERT Kawasaki. Our strategy was looking really good and we were able to have less fuel stops than QERT, which was good for us", said Cudlin.

The bike was then handed to the 3rd Diablo rider, James Hutchins, for his hour long stint, but after just 10 more laps, the race was over for Diablo. James was pushing hard around the back part of the Circuit, when all of a sudden the bike’s electrical system shut down, resulting in James having to push the bike back to the pits. After finding that the problem was a blown fuse, the team quickly replaced the fuse and returned to the circuit in 18th position, but after just half a lap, the fuse blew again, which meant another long push back to the pits. By the time the bike got back to the pits, Diablo were in a dismal 27th position. At that point the Diablo team Principal decided to abandon the race for safety reasons.

"What a disappointment…. We were running in 3rd place when the fuse blew and we were catching 2nd. I just can’t believe it. We had the pace to finish on the podium here, and for that to be ripped away from us due to a 20c bit like a fuse, is really heart breaking for everyone in the team" pondered Alex.

"I really wanted that podium finish. My brother was running in 1st when we were running in 2nd, and if we had of finished on the box it would have been a very special moment for both of us to stand up there together. I guess this is racing and these things happen, but it’s still a bitter blow".

Team Diablo contested 6 rounds of the World Championships and only finished 2 rounds in the points due to mechanical problems, and also a rider crashing at Le Mans.

Alex will now spend 2 weeks in England, before returning to his home town of Taree, in Australia for his seasonal break.