After three rounds of qualifying on Day One of the two-day, championship-deciding Round 7 of the 2009-10 Arabian Drag Racing League season, Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani leads the Pro Extreme field and Khalid Al-Balooshi is on top of the Pro Nitrous list at the Qatar Race Club. Both will have one more opportunity to improve their times on Friday before elimination rounds begin.

Sheikh Khalid stepped up in his third qualifying effort of the day with a 3.73-seconds pass at 204.05-mph in his Frank Manzo-tuned, Al-Anabi Racing ’68 Camaro. The Sheikh has qualified number one at three of the six previous events.

In second place is Alex Hossler of Canton, Ilinois, who also made his best pass of 3.75 at 203.58 in the third attempt with his Chris Duncan-tuned and –built ’70 Camaro, followed by defending series champ Von Smith from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with a 3.79-seconds run at 203.95 mph in his Barwa Racing ’68 Camaro that also came in the third session.

After three rounds of qualifying on Day One of the two-day, championship-deciding Round 7 of the 2009-10 Arabian Drag Racing League season, Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani leads the Pro Extreme field and Khalid Al-Balooshi is on top of the Pro Nitrous list at the Qatar Race Club. Both will have one more opportunity to improve their times on Friday before elimination rounds begin.

Sheikh Khalid stepped up in his third qualifying effort of the day with a 3.73-seconds pass at 204.05-mph in his Frank Manzo-tuned, Al-Anabi Racing ’68 Camaro. The Sheikh has qualified number one at three of the six previous events.

In second place is Alex Hossler of Canton, Ilinois, who also made his best pass of 3.75 at 203.58 in the third attempt with his Chris Duncan-tuned and –built ’70 Camaro, followed by defending series champ Von Smith from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with a 3.79-seconds run at 203.95 mph in his Barwa Racing ’68 Camaro that also came in the third session.

Local racers Bader Ahli and Ali Aryan round out the Pro Extreme field with Ahli improving to 3.85 at 202.48 in the same ’06 Mustang that his crew chief, Todd Tutterow, drove to the ’09 American Drag Racing League Pro Extreme championship. Aryan was the only Pro Extreme driver not to go quicker in the final qualifying session with his 3.98/191.54 lap of record coming in the second go round.

Al-Balooshi (left), the 2009 American Drag Racing League Pro Nitrous world champion, ran 3.91 at 194.55 mph in his second attempt on Thursday to take the qualifying lead, followed by Al-Anabi teammate Mike Castellana, who improved to 3.95 at 188.60 in his third qualifying pass and Khalil Al-Ansari, who also improved in his last shot of the day, although to a still-underperforming 4.33 at 167.59 mph.

In Extreme 10.5, U.S. racer Dan Millen (right) leads qualifying with a 4.24-seconds pass over the QRC eighth mile at 177.89 mph in his turbocharged Mustang. Qatar’s Mahaini Al-Naimi is second, followed by Washington, Georgia’s Mike Hill, Saud Alzabin of Kuwait and a third U.S. driver, Chad Morgan.

One more qualifying session at 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. Eastern), will open Friday’s action at the Qatar Race Club, with eliminations to follow.