IN
THE
WIND
P48
Sunderland Leads Silk Way Rally
W
ith just one day left on
the schedule, Red Bull
KTM's Sam Sunderland leads
the way after stage nine of
the Silk Way Rally, which
routes the riders through Rus-
sia, Mongolia and China, cov-
ering more than 3100 miles.
Although this race has been
held nine times before, this
is the first time motorcycles
have been allowed to partici-
pate. Racing started on July 7
and concludes on July 16.
As the race heads into China,
Sunderland enjoys a com-
fortable 23-minute lead after
stage nine over Andrew Short
(Husqvarna), who was the stage
winner.
Short took the day's win by
less than a minute over Hero's
Paulo Goncalves, followed by
Yamaha's Andrien Van Beveren
and Sunderland. Honda rider
Jose "Nacho" Cornejo was fifth.
"I think they definitely saved
the toughest till last because
the two days in China so far
have been super physical,"
Sunderland said. "The tracks
have been really technical with a
lot of broken rivers and washes
coming through the piste. It
makes it really difficult to find a
good rhythm, and of course, the
temperature here is much hotter.
"For me personally, after a
good run through Russia and
Mongolia, these last few days
were about just managing my
pace. Yesterday I got caught
out which was frustrating, with a
lead like I have the goal should
be to take things easy and not
take any risks, but I clipped a
rock and got thrown off. Today
I kept a cool head, in fact, I saw
Andrew just before the refuel,
and he was riding really well. I
tagged onto him for a bit, but
in the end, just decided to keep
my own pace and bring it home
at the end of the day." CN
Overall (After Stage 9)
1. Sam Sunderland (KTM) 23:27:27
2. Andrew Short (Hus) 23:50:18
3. Adrien Van Beveren (Yam) 23:51:09
4. Kevin Benavides (Hon) 23:53:35
5. Luciano Benavides (KTM) 24:01:45
With one day
left to go, Sam
Sunderland enjoys
a 23-minute lead
over Andrew Short
at the Silk Way
Rally. PHOTO: KTM
