two and had opened up
a gap on the field, but it
all fell apart when a storm
swept in a dumped rain in
the afternoon. With limited
vision, Goncalves missed
a note in the roadbook
and consequently took a
wrong turn that cost him
about 20 minutes.
From that point on,
Goncalves set to work
making up for lost time.
After winning day three
and putting in another
respectable performance
on day four, the Portu-
guese rider pulled out
all the stops to top the final day
of the rally, and ultimately finish
fourth overall, just ahead of
Coma.
Early in the rally, Coma had
been running inside the top-
three. True to form, he was
biding his time before taking a
steady grasp of the top spot,
but the Red Bull KTM rider was
hampered by a crash on day
four. From that point, Coma was
forced to nurse an injured wrist
all the way to the finish. Although
a little sub-par for the defending
champion, his fifth-place finish
has allowed him to hang on to
his World Championship hopes.
Stage four was the scene of
multiple plot twists in the race.
Yamaha's Alesandro Botturi, who
had been leading, was forced
to drop out of the race after suf-
fering a destroyed rear mousse.
Botturi was not the only rider
lead to run into misfortune while
leading the race. Sherco rider
Juan Pedrero appeared to have
won the first day of the rally, but
was soon penalized for speeding
and dropped to 15th place.
Other notable finishes in the
race include that of American rid-
ers Scott Bright and Ned Suesse.
The duo finished 22nd and 29th
overall, respectively. Carlos
Checa was not only the guest
of honor, but the former World
Superbike Champion made his
rally racing debut at the Sardegna
Rally. Checa earned the admira-
tion of his fans and fellow racers
by gritting it out through a number
of challenges and small injuries to
finish 28th overall.
Jean Turner
VOL. 52 ISSUE 24 JUNE 16, 2015 P49
Paulo Goncalves
had his share
of difficulties
throughout the
rally, but pulled out
all the stops on the
final day to win the
stage and advance
one more position
in the overall to
finish fourth.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
HRC
A crash slowed Red Bull KTM's
Marc Coma, but the defending FIM
Cross Country Rallies World Cham-
pion finished fifth to keep his 2015
title hopes alive.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KTM
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