Due to a rise in coronavirus cases in Mongolia, Silk Way Rally organisers were forced to re-route the course to avoid entering the country. The revised schedule keeps the event within Russia and will now be played out over a total of five stages with the third stage, and the first leg of the event’s marathon stage, taking place today. The mixed terrain special included the additional hazard of multiple river crossings, which provided a serious challenge for all riders.
Adrien Van Beveren secured another consistent result on stage three with the Frenchman bringing home his Yamaha WR450F Rally in seventh place. Maintaining a consistent pace throughout the 133-kilometre special, Adrien knew the importance of conserving his machine on leg one of the marathon stage and finished just under eight minutes behind the stage winner.
For Andrew Short, the third stage of the Silk Way Rally proved to be a frustrating one. A small crash early on slowed his pace, before a mistake while crossing a river resulted in the American’s bike becoming fully submerged in the water. Fortunately, Andrew was able to fire his Yamaha WR450F Rally back into life and successfully completed the stage, in 11th place.
Entering day three with the provisional rally lead, Ross Branch began the stage on a positive note by passing through the first waypoint as the fastest rider on the special. Frustratingly, Ross’ bike would suffer from a technical issue shortly after, bringing the race to a premature end for the early race leader.
With the revised schedule, the second leg of the event’s marathon stage will take place tomorrow on the same route as today. Upon completion, the riders then face just one more day of racing on Tuesday 6 July.
