STAGE 4 IN MOROCCO

Stefan SVITKO's first victory on a motorcycle

Maurizio GERINI's HUSQVARNA started in the lead this morning, but was caught by Stefan SVITKO's KTM at kilometer 60, after which the two leaders rode together to cross the line with a one-second advantage for the Slovakian, who won with 00:02:01 over the Italian. The rhythm was maintained  since Alessandro BOTTURI, with the handlebar of his YAMAHA 700 goes up on the 3rd step of the podium of the day with 00:20:56 of delay. In 4th position, we find the surprising Robbie WALLACE at 00:25:34. More and more at ease on his KTM, the British rider is ahead of the French rider Xavier FLICK who had a bit of a hard time today. The HUSQVARNA rider finished the stage 00:27:55 behind the winner and ahead of Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER's KTM by 00:01:13 and Pol TARRES' YAMAHA 700 by 00:02:51. The first time since the start that we find seven pilots in 30 minutes. To finish with the top 10, we find the YAMAHA 700 of Lucio BELLUSCHI in 8th position, the HUSQVARNA of Massimiliano GUERRINI and the KTM of the Dutchman Stephan SAVELKOULS. The best performances of the day were the 15th place of the HONDA of the Italian Francesca GASPERI and the 20th place of the Japanese Shingo SUGIMARA, more and more at ease on his HUSQVARNA.

In the provisional overall of the AFRICA ECO RACE, Maurizio GUERINI keeps the leadership for 42 seconds on Stefan SVITKO. Xavier FLICK, leader of the MOTUL EXTREME RIDER challenge is well installed in 3rd position with more than one hour of advance on Pal Anders ULLEVALSETER, who is far from having said his last word.

A French trio in cars

Philippe GOSSELIN and Christophe CRESPO had black hands when they got out of their Buggy OPTIMUS at the finish line of this 4th special stage. The Frenchmen had to change a cardan shaft 130 km from the end of the stage. In spite of the 30 minutes lost in this repair, the leaders of the car-truck general standings won with 00:09:43 over their teammates from Team David GERARD and Pascal DELACOUR. In 3rd position, we find the CAN AM of Bruno ROBIN and Philippe CHAMPIGNE who, after their worries of the first two days, are getting good results. The Frenchmen win by the same occasion the T3 category reserved for the SSV by beating the Dutch Laurens MEIJER and Robbert VISSER, but also the Senegalese Jean DAGHER HAYECK and Patrick ANTONIOLLI, always as surprising.
 

In the general ranking, Philippe GOSSELIN and Christophe CRESPO are keeping their ever-growing lead.

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 22, the final Moroccan stage will bring the AFRICA ECO RACE caravan to Dakhla for a well-deserved rest day. But before that, the competitors will have to cover 690 km, 450 of which will be run on fast sandy tracks, but with a big chunk of navigation.