2014 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Stage 2 Results
The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – the first round of the 2014 FIM Cross Country Rallies Championship – continued Monday with the second of five stages that take riders through the Liwa Desert and the Moreeb area of the Empty Quarter.
The stage took riders a total of 488 kilometers from Madinat Zayed to Moreeb, and when it completed, Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma took the top time. He finished two minutes ahead of his teammate and stage-one winner, Sam Sunderland.
Taking third overall, and jumping to third in the overall standings, was HRC Honda’s Paolo Goncalves aboard the Honda CRF450 Rally.
The official report says the motorcycles struck out from the bivouac at Qasr Al Sarab at 7 a.m. Monday for a link section of over 100 km to reach the start of the second Special of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
KTM’s Sunderland, who set off in first place, led the field up to CP1 but missed a jump. Riding with a slightly injured wrist, he was then caught up by KTM’s Coma, and he had no alternative but to ride with the winner of the 2014 Dakar, who clinched the Special.
The British rider Sunderland finished second ahead of Paolo Gonçalves, who admits that he was unable to keep pace with the two KTM riders, although his Honda is in perfect working order. As for Goncalves’ teammate Joan Barreda, who won Sunday’s Super Special that designated starting positions, the Spaniard lost 5 minutes at the refueling stop. He would finish fourth.
“My bike wouldn’t start, so I had to leave the zone to repair an electric wire that had snapped,” Barreda said.
KTM’s Jordi Viladoms finished fifth, followed by Team HRC Honda’s Helder Rodrigues who saw Kuba Przysgonski crash heavily at km 190. The young Pole was taken to Madinat Zayed hospital with a broken arm and bruising on his back.
Sweden’s Thomas Berglund, the Husaberg rider who is riding in his first Desert Challenge, crashed yesterday and preferred to play it safe today, coming in a respectable seventh ahead of three KTM riders – Stanovnik, Albalooshi and CS.
On Tuesday, the riders will ride a total of 372 kilometers from Moreeb to Qasr Al Sarab.
2014 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Results, Stage 2:
1. Marc Coma 03:36’02 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
2. Sam Sunderland +02’00 ENG KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
3. Paulo Goncalves +02’06 PRT HONDA TEAM HRC
4. Joan Barreda +07’39 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC
5. Jordi Viladoms +14’31 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
6. Helder Rodrigues +14’43 PRT HONDA TEAM HRC
7. Thomas Berglund +23’00 SWE HUSABERG Rally Rage Sweden
8. Miran Stanovnik +24’19 SLO KTM Team Stavnovik
9. Mohammed Albalooshi +26’00 UAE KTM KTM UAC
10. Santosh CS +27’05 IND KTM Team CS
2014 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Provisional Standings after Stage 2 of 5:
1. Sam Sunderland 07:08’29 ENG KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
2. Marc Coma +01’25 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
3. Paulo Goncalves +04’16 PRT HONDA TEAM HRC
4. Joan Barreda +12’08 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC
5. Jordi Viladoms +25’09 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
6. Miran Stanovnik +01:02’46 SLO KTM Team Stavnovik
7. Mohammed Albalooshi +01:10’35 UAE KTM KTM UAC
8. Aleksei Nikishkin +01:24’46 RUS HONDA WI Rally
9. Santosh CS +01:25’42 IND KTM Team CS
10. Jakub Piatek +01:31’48 POL KTM Team Hanesco