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/885168
ing the 2017 FIM Cross- Country Rallies World Championship. "I ended up drowning the engine and getting water in the fuel," Sun- derland lamented. "It's so frustrating that the route wasn't checked properly after all the rain, and it certainly disadvantaged the leaders today." Stages 3 and 4 were linked into a marathon stage, and continued to provide unexpected turns in the race. Honda HRC rider Paulo Goncalves expe- rienced some hard luck after injuring his hand in a hard crash on Stage 2. The Portuguese rider attempted to tough it out on Stage 3, but was forced to retire from the race, and give up his hopes for the world champion- ship. Brabec claimed the Stage 3 win, marking his first world championship stage win. The following day's course was short- ened, with the second stretch being canceled altogether. Brabec didn't fare quite as well, and wasn't shy about sharing some frustration with the racing organization. "It's hard to go race when you know that KTM get their own way. They have a really good spokesperson for FIM and toward the rally organization," read a quote from Brabec in a Monster Energy Honda Team race report. "To keep racing after they get their own way every single day is tough for us. We keep fighting and we keep doing well and we can win. But when Honda wins KTM have something to say. It's not good. It hasn't been a good rally for us. They do something wrong, they capitalize on it and get their time back. They miss a waypoint, they get their time back. They get stuck in the water, they get their time back. We go one km/h over the speed limit, they give us a one-minute penalty. It's a little BS for us. It's not fun and it's not rac- ing for us. It's hard to race each day like that." At the close of Stage 4, the penultimate stage of the Moroc- co Rally, Quintanilla continued to lead the way. Walkner was nearly seven minutes back in second, followed by the Honda duo of Kevin Benavides and Brabec with KTM's Antoine Meo sitting fifth. Andrew Short has been mak- ing steady progress in his first race with the Factory Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team. Short finished the marathon stage in 16th place, both in Stage 4 and in the overall standings. "The overall experience of the marathon stage was really fun," Shorty commented. "I got the chance to see the desert camp and live the real rally experience having to prepare my bike alone. The atmosphere is great in the event and I'm loving every minute of it. Overall I can see some progress but still I have a long way to go. I want to get batter at rally racing and find ways to improve for the future." CN IN THE WIND P42 Andrew Short is enjoying his first race with the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rally team. He currently sits 16th overall. PHOTOGRAPHY BY HUSQVARNA-MOTORCYCLES