The riders left the bivouac at the Losail circuit at 6 am this morning for Al-Khararra and the start of a 345 km Special.
Yesterday, after examination of the videos, it transpired that Pablo Quintanilla had won the first Special with a one second lead over Sam Sunderland, so it was the man from Chile who opened the trail this morning. Pela Renet (Husqvarna) was credited with the time he spent yesterday taking care of Kuba Patiek, who broke his leg, placing him in 4th position and Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) in 6th.
Today, after setting off in third place, Toby Price (KTM) caught up with Sam Sunderland (KTM) and Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna), which meant that he should have won the Special by quite a margin as the three men rode together, but at km 308, Quintanilla made a mistake. Sunderland followed him at full speed and Price, after some hesitation, set off in their tracks. The three top guns got lost like novices and the stage win went to the leader of the Junior category, José “PPS” Cornejo, ahead of France’s Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha). “What a great day!” said van Beveren. Yesterday I had some problems with the water and my machine stalled. As a result, I left in 11th position this morning but that made the Special easier to manage. I took my time so as not to make mistakes but I still lost 10 minutes. But the others lost even more time than me. I’m not here to win but to learn as much as I can. The wins will come later!”
Juan Carlos Salvatierra (KTM) finished in third place and Toby Price, who managed to limit the damage and move to the top of the provisional leader board, was fourth. “It certainly wasn’t an easy day”, says the Australian, who was suffering from back pain at the finish. “About 50 km from the finish, we made a navigation error, Sam, Pablo and I… Now there are a few riders between Sam, Pablo and me on the leader board. We’ll have to focus and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Pela Renet (Husqvarna) came 5th followed by Al Balooshi (KTM), Sunderland and Quintanilla. In 9th position, Ignacio Casale (Yamaha) won the quad category. He was followed by Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) and Villarrubia, leaving Rafal Sonik (Honda) on the second quad over 14' behind.
Price now heads up the leader board with a lead of 38'' lead over Salvatierra, 1' 5 over Renet, 1’58 over Sunderland and 3’56 over Quintanilla.
It was a bad day for our heroine Laia Sanz. Having crashed and destroyed her KTM, she had to return to bivouac by road.
Judith Tomaselli