The Silk Way Rally started with problems

23.7.2018

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This is like a horror movie. First of all, this year's Silk Way Rally has been suddenly shortened for only a week, and just before the start, the Dutch driver, Gert Huzink, was forced due to family circumstances not to start. And on Saturday's first stage, technical problems of his colleague Martin van den Brink tore his dream of a good overall location to pieces. As if nothing could go according to original plans. But the team is not giving up.

            The Silk Way Rally is one of the world's toughest long distance races. But no one thought, that such problems would affect a truck from the MKR Technology centre right from the start. The only Dakar special from the North of Bohemia, who joined the race, started the first stage in a great style. After passing the first checkpoint after a hundred and eighteen kilometres, he was in second position with less than a two-minute gap to the leading Russian Nikolaev. He then stopped and the Renault Trucks from Židovice got into the lead. There was a great atmosphere in the camp, which was spoilt by loosened suction hose from fuel tanks some forty kilometres before of the finish line. "We lost a lot of oil, but we hod not noticed it before the tank was empty. However, Russian Alexander Russanov helped us to provide the necessary oil. We lost time, but we still went to the finish," Martin van den Brink described the first troubles. "I have to say that I am not buying it. We could hardly lose two hundred litres of diesel in a moment just because of the loose hose. In addition, I have news that we were not the only one to whom the gas in the tank was missing, but I do not want to speculate,"remarked mechanic Daniel Kozlovsky from Roudnice.

            The fundamental twist came just nineteen kilometres ahead of the finish line, where truck tore the lower pin from the axle and the right front wheel partially overturned. The dream of overall good position was gone. The crew had to wait for the mechanical team. "It was very hard to get to the truck at all. We were stuck several times, and we had to dig ourselves out of the dunes. We have fixed the truck on site to be able to finish the stage at least, "said Kozlovsky.

            The firs stage, which had a start and a finish in Astrakhan, measured 362 kilometres, of which 311 were timed section. The trucks went to the steppes and endless fields where they traversed the high grass and the dunes came.  Russian pilot Sotnikov tackled the stage the best and was the only driver to make it under four hours. The second pilot, Belarusian Viazovich lost six minutes. While the crews continued into Stage 2 from Astrakhan to Elista, Mammoet Rally Sport and MKR Technology in the bivouac changed the entire front axle to rejoin on the second part of this marathon stage. "In the evening, we want to get to Elista so we can start on Monday in the second part that goes back. It means a penalty of such magnitude, that the dream of overall result is gone, but we can at least try to achieve partial results in the next stages. The mood in the team is not bad, "concluded Daniel Kozlovsky.

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