Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/524688
IN THE WIND P44 BOTTURI LEADS AS SARDEGNA RALLY GETS UNDERWAY R ound four of the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship is officially underway with the start of the Sardegna Rally in Italy. After two of five stages, Alessandro Botturi of the factory Yamaha team leads the way on the rocky and scenic Mediterranean island with Red Bull KTM's Marc Coma in second and HRC's Jacopo Cerutti in third. KTM's Matthias Walkner put his motocross background to good use and sailed to the top spot in the prologue, which took place at the Baccalamanza motocross track. But his overall leader standing didn't last long, as Sherco-mounted Joan Pedrero soon took the point with a dominant performance on day one. HRC's stalwart rally competitor Paulo Goncalves also got out to a good start in the opening stage, as well at the motocross-style prologue, but took a dive in the overall standings after a disappointing day two—the longest stage of the rally. His loss was Botturi's gain as the Yamaha rider moved into the lead. Another gain for Botturi was an overnight penalty of 15 minutes for Pedrero. The Spaniard had another strong performance on day two, top- ping the field once again, but he dropped in overall standings after receiving the penalty. True to form, Coma remains patient and consistent, currently sitting in second overall—well within striking distance for the rally win. After a dusty first stage, riders faced a downpour on day two when a storm blew in during the latter part of the day. Goncalves had opened a big lead over the field in the morning, but when the storm blew in, the limited visibility caused him to take a wrong turn, which ended up costing him nearly 20 minutes. "Everything was going great until kilometer 40 of the special when the torrential rain began," Goncalves explained. "I wasn't able to see, but I didn't take off the goggles and missed a note in the roadbook. I ended up get- ting lost for four kilometers and lost a lot of time, but I was able to make it through to the end without further problems. There are three days left and I'll have to try and recover and improve every day." Jean Turner HRC's Jacopo Cerutti speeds his way through the dusty terrain of the Mediterranean is- land—which was no longer dusty after a downpour on day two. PHOTOGRAPHY BY HRC Red Bull KTM's Marc Coma airs it out during the motocross-style prologue. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RALLYZONE BAUER/BARNI