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WIND
CASELLI WINS ARGENTINE RALLY
I
t didn't take Kurt Caselli long to
get the hang of this rally thing.
Caselli started Saturday's final
stage of the Desafio Ruta 40 Rally in Argentina in third place overall. Then he went out and won
the final stage, vaulting himself
to the overall victory in what was
only his second international rally
since making his debut in the Dakar Rally at the end of last year.
After more than 18 hours of
racing, Caselli beat his teammate Chaleco Lopez by just 43
seconds. Rally king and World
Championship leader Marc
Coma finished third overall.
HRC's Helder Rodrigues was
in the hunt for the overall victory
on his Honda, but a crash early
Kurt Caselli
celebrates his
victory in the
Desafio Ruta 40
Rally in Argentina.
in the final stage put an end to
that. Rodrigues didn't suffer serious injury but a sore hip kept him
from finishing the final stage.
"The team did an amazing job,
Marc [Coma] fought back very
hard and I am super pumped
about how smart [Kurt] Caselli
contested the rally," said team
manager Alex Doringer. "With
Chaleco on the podium, we see
once more that a rally is always
decided in the last days and
there's no point in celebrating
until our riders are all across the
finish line. I'm very happy and we
have made a big move toward
victory in the World Rally Championship. We again proved who
it is that is number one in this
sport."
The rally was not only part of
the Dakar Challenge Series, but
was also the fourth leg of the six
round-FIM World Cross Countries Championship of which
Coma is not only the title holder
but has also won the first three
rallies.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KTM IMAGES/RALLY ZONE
IN
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