Mardi 7 octobre 2014
Tuesday 7 October 2014
4th Stage: ZAGORA - CHEGGAGA
Link section: 76 km – Special: 226 km – Link section: 77 km – Total: 379 km
The fourth stage of the Morocco Rally linking Zagora to Cheggaga is a loop that begins after a link section of nearly 80 kilometres, follows the oued Drâa and crosses the Cheggaga erg for 30 km. The terrain for this Stage is very sandy, the navigation is demanding and the motorcyclists are physically exhausted at the finish.
It was not even 11h00 when the first motorcycle crossed the finish line of this fourth Special. Marc Coma, who set off behind his main rivals and who is celebrating his 38th birthday today, won the Special with a 5 second lead over Sunderland (KTM) and shot to the top of the Championship rankings with a lead of 1'35 over Gonçalves (Honda). “I was able to catch up with Paolo just before the oued but there he rode off into the dust and I couldn’t do a thing. After the oued, there was a dangerous off-road section and I didn’t want to take any risks. The important thing for me is to get to Marrakech!”
Sunderland (KTM) had a slight run-in with his former team mate Paolo Gonçalves (Honda) at the finish line. The two men rode side by side for quite a while but didn’t manage to catch Joan Barreda (Honda) who had set out first. Australia’s Tommy Price (KTM) put in a fine performance taking 3rd ahead of Gonçalves (Honda), Barreda (Honda) and Chaleco Lopez (KTM). “It was a very tough Special physically”, explained the Chilean.
“I liked the dune sector and the fast tracks up to the finish. Every day we are improving the suspension settings on my KTM for the Dakar.” Helder Rodrigues (Honda) came in 8th: “It was a tough day”, he says, “almost entirely off road with lots of navigating. It can’t have been too comfortable out in front today.” The Portuguese rider was followed by his team mate Jeremias Israël (Honda) and Faria (KTM). “I got a bit lost… as usual”, says the man from Portugal with a smile. But to be fair to myself, the navigation was really tough today. And you had to be careful because there were dangerous little broken dunes.”
It was another great ride for Laia sanz, top of the women’s category, who finished 15th. The first quad, Rafal Sonik, who is already World Champion, finished in 27th.