Rally Maroc starts this weekend!!

[SteveD]

From Darryl:

What happened yesterday:
Riaan crashed heavily yesterday destroying all his navigation equipment and buckling his front wheel. He still managed 17th for the day and maintained his 14th overall position. He is 13th in the Rally category. He also picked up a 4 minute speeding penalty on the way home due to his smashed Unik 2 gps. Paulo Gonzalves won yesterdays stage ahead of Factory Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma. Marc is currently third, trailing Paulo by 2 minutes 40 on the overall.

Todays stage: 14Km Liasion, 310Km special, 25Km Liasion
It was a dusty stage today, starting close to Erfoud this morning on the longest stage of the rally. Broadlink KTM’s Riaan van Niekerk opted to not take any chances in the dust after his monster crash yesterday, he will maintain his 13th place overall. With only one day remaining it will be a case of keeping up a steady pace and making it to the finish line in one piece. This has been a valuable exercise and being part of the Factory KTM team has been phenominal, who better to learn from than 5 time World Rally champion Marc Coma and the team. They are super professional in every way and pay special attention to every single detail. The other manufacturers are all putting huge effort in to win the Dakar and the riders know that they have to work harder if they are going to feature this year, the level of riding and competition increases each year and the level right now is astounding, this years’ Dakar will for sure have us on the seat of our pants. 

Joan Berreda of Spain won the stage today and has also moved into the overall lead of the rally. Factory Red Bull KTM’ Marc Coma beat Paulo Gonzalves to the line and made up some 2 minutes 20. Marc will start ahead of Paulo tomorrow, Paulo leads Marc by 20 seconds going into the last day, the world championship title could go either way, All the pressure will be on Marc tomorrow.
 
Tomorrow’s stage: 27Km Liasion, 219Km special, 39Km Liasion
Time for tricky navigation for the final stage of the rally. After alternating
between fast tracks and crossing unseen dunes, competitors will go back up the dry riverbed using the mythical Chebbi dunes on the left. They will head west to the finish to reach the final dunes and cross through the finish of the rally.

[alli]

Thanks for the updates SteveD

[SteveD]

Thanks for the updates SteveD

One day I might understand why rallies fascinate me, but I doubt it.

From Darryl:

What happened yesterday:
Riaan rode a safe day in heavy dust and moved up in the overall standings to 12th Overall. In the front the battle for the world rally championship title between Marc Coma and Paulo Gonzalves was narrowed to just 20 seconds. He who finishes in front tomorrow, will take the title.  

Todays stage: 27Km Liasion, 219Km special, 39Km Liasion
Broadlink KTM’s Riaan van Niekerk finished the six day long rally of Maroc in a credible 11th place overall  . The result is significant as he was up against all the top Dakar contenders and this was a FIM World championship event. This was also Riaan’s first rally since the 2013 Dakar in January and he is up against factory teams that have raced the entire world series. Riaan will try to improve on his fantastic 13th overall at the 2013 Dakar rally which was his first, he also won the rookie challenge and the Elf trophy challenge. The rally of Maroc has proven to be a great final test due to the rough nature of Marocco, we have been managed to secure
factory suspension for Dakar   and have ironed out some small issues on the bike, rather now than at Dakar 2014 !

The battle for the World rally championship was decided between Factory Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma (5 time world champion) and Honda’s Paulo Gonzalves, with Gonzalves taking the overall win of the Rally of Maroc as well as the World Rally championship  . This win will surely boost Honda’s confidence going to Dakar, they have their guns blazing and will try to topple KTM’s Dakar dominence. Although the World championship was at stake, KTM’s focus has been on the final testing and further development of their new rally bike and the most important thing is that Coma and Caselli both finished without any mechanical issues.
 
We will continue with our roadbook training in South Africa and Namibia, there are just two months to go. Thanks to our title sponsor Broadlink as well as MTN, Brother, Leader Tread and Teraco  .

Well done Riaan
 

[SteveD]

From Riaan the man via FB:

"Rally of Maroc done and dusted. Was definitely not an easy one for me this year. I have a lot of home work to from now until Dakar. Still finished a respectable 11th overall.
 Very blessed to have the Broadlink KTM Rally behind me. Letting me live my dreams.... "

[Dogboxelectric]

Final results for Morocco

Final results OiLibya Morocco Rally 2013
1 Paulo Goncalves 17:08'59 PRT HONDA TEAM HRC
2 Marc Coma +03'44 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
3 Joan Barreda +07'39 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC
4 Chaleco López +32'58 CHI KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
5 Sam Sunderland +45'57 ENG HONDA TEAM HRC
6 Ben Grabham +55'08 AUS KTM KTM AUS Rally Factory
7 Kurt Caselli +01:04'32 USA KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
8 Olivier Pain +01:06'09 FRA YAMAHA Yamaha Racing
9 Alessandro Botturi +01:08'58 ITA SPEEDBRAIN Team Speedbrain
10 Frans Verhoeven +01:41'38 HOL YAMAHA Yamaha Netherlands Verhoeven

[swart skaap]

Honda, jou lekker ding!

[White Rhino]

Well done Riaan