Wednesday 4 October
Technical and Administrative Verifications: Complexe Sportif de Fès.
Yesterday, under a splendid sun tempered by a gentle breeze, the technical and administrative verifications took place in the precinct of the Sports Complex in Fès.
The riders, who know the ropes as they have to go through the administrative verifications at every Rally, patiently waited their turn before stepping into the technical scrutineering zone where the two FIM Stewards, Gianfranco and Izak, checked the machines and tested the sound level of the exhausts.
The day drifted gently by, punctuated only by verifications and reunions between friends and rivals. Except for the few unlucky riders forced to sit out this last round of the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship. One of them is Toby Price (KTM), who hurt his knee in practice in southern Morocco just yesterday. Just as he was starting to come back after his nasty fall in the Dakar and a fractured femur, the poor guy from Australia had to return home in a wheelchair…
Also sidelined is Team Orlen’s Junior, Adam Tomicek (KTM), who has broken his femur.
In the Husqvarna camp, with Pela Renet just starting to walk again, Pablo Quintanilla will be seconded by a new rider, Andrew short, straight from his native Texas and the discipline of Motocross.
And in quad, when he got home after the Desafio Ruta 40, Rafal Sonik found out that he had broken his right foot! “Now I know why I wasn’t really in form”, explains the man from Poland. “From day two, I was riding with a fracture!”
Tomorrow, there will be a briefing at 9h followed by the starting rostrum at 11h and the Prologue at noon!
Judith Tomaselli