Walkner Takes 2021 Silk Road Rally Win
T
he second round of the 2021
FIM Cross-Country Rallies
World Championship saw some
of the best off-road racers in the
world converge on the stunning
Siberian landscape for a race
run entirely within Russia due to
changing Covid-19 restrictions in
neighboring Mongolia.
The Rally was originally due to
run 10 stages but was shortened
to five, with some stages having
to be re-run in order to make the
minimum FIM-mandated distance
for full points to be awarded.
Red Bull KTM's former Da-
kar Rally race winner Mathias
Walkner came away with the
overall victory after taking one
stage win (stage three) but never
straying out of the top five in the
other four, his win hoisting the
Austrian into the championship
lead with 57.5 points.
"The final stage here was re-
ally nice to ride," Walkner said.
"It was the same as day two, but
instead of making it rougher, it
seems the cars and trucks pre-
pared it quite well for us today. I
really tried to push at the begin-
ning, because I know the first
part of the stage is good for me
over the fast pistes. In the forest I
thought I might have to ease off a
little, but I rode better today, and
I was able to push for the whole
stage. It's a shame the rally had
to be shortened, but the organiz-
ers did a great job of giving us
a full event to race. To win the
famous tiger trophy here at the
Silk Way feels amazing, and with
my win here I'm now also leading
the championship."
Second in Siberia went to new
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna sign-
ing, Skyler Howes. The American
took fourth on the final stage be-
hind Italian Franco Caimi (Hero)
but leapfrogged him in the overall
to take second on the Silk Road
podium.
"To get second place and my
first podium at a world champion-
ship round is amazing," Howes
said. "I was hoping for a slightly
IN
THE
WIND
P54
Matthias Walkner used
all his tight woods-racing
experience to come out on
top at the Silk Road Rally.
