The first motorcycle leaves the bivouac in Tibniya

Tuesday, 2 October2nd Leg : Tibniya - TibniyaSpecial Section: 347.07 km – Total: 347.07 kmAt six-thirty precisely, the first motorcycle leaves the bivouac in Tibniya for a second, 347 km Special section over mixed terrain. The sun is coming up over the horizon, the air is cool and the dunes are outlined against the dawn sky. At km 45, Joan Barreda, the first to start after his victory in yesterday's stage, goes through the cord and strikes out, nose in the air, opening the track for over 70 km. The young Spaniard is fast, very fast, especially as Husqvarna has been working on the engines with an eye to the next Dakar, and his motorcycle is 10 km/h faster than the KTMs.  Coming up behind him, another Catalan, Jordi Viladoms (KTM), is on a mission to clinch the second spot on the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship podium. Kuba Przygonski (KTM), too, is a force to be reckoned with, and the young Pole closes in on his rivals as does Paolo Goncalves (Husqvarna). But the end of the Special is truly epic. Barreda, Goncalves and Przygonski all make navigational errors, and Viladoms comes out on top.The arrival is somewhat chaotic for the leading riders, as the Time Check is not in place, all because a driver thought he knew but didn't. But thanks to TDCom's Iritack, arrival times can be calculated and rankings drawn up all the same. So Jordi Viladoms wins the stage with a lead of 1'12 over Przygonski, 2' over Goncalves, 3'25 over Barreda and 5'01 over Ullevalseter. "I was going very well on the first part of the Special, says Jordi, and I had a good lead over the others. But the second part was faster. The Husqvarna riders' top speed is much faster than my machine's, and I couldn't prevent them from catching me up." Przygonski, in second place, led the race for quite a while . "I was way out ahead of the others, explains Kuba, but I veered too far right, missed a Way Point and had to go back. I am second today, and that makes it a good day with my navigation glitch." The same scenario for Joan Barreda, who finished fourth behind Goncalves. "It's hard to navigate at high speed, says Joan. I missed my way, and once I'd looped back and got on to the right track again…I found myself behind."Pal Ullevalseter is placed 5th ahead of the Bolivian Salvatierra and the two Poles Czachor and Dabrowski, leaders in the Open. In the overall rankings, Barreda is still ahead with a lead of 3'42 lead over Viladoms, 3'54 over Goncalves and 5'02 over Przygonski. In the quad category, there was a bit of friction in the Sonik team... Faced with a big hole in the sand, Rafal Sonik went right to avoid it while his teammate Lukasz Laskawiec, who is also his rival, after all, went straight through it to take the advantage. The two quads got a bit too close for comfort, but happily no harm was done. Laskawiec won the Special ahead of Sonik and  Camelia came in third. Tomorrow, the rally is going South, in the direction of Abu Mingar, with a jumbo Section  580 km long. Communication AMADLOZI Edition - http://amadlozi.blogspot.ch -

Source: http://www.fim-live.com/en/media/news/news-detail/article/1349191145-the-first-motorcycle-leaves-the-bivouac-in-tibniya/

Franco Bertoni Juan Bertran Willi Bertsch Paul Berwick Kees Besseling