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CFMOTO Factory Racing Team finished the so called Lithuanian Dakar on a winners’ podium

Updated: Aug 7, 2020

A four-day long contest Autoaibe Lithuanian Baja - Perimetras, which was held in Taurage, ended last weekend. The performance of CFMOTO Factory Racing Team in it was rather successful. After overcoming 400 km, both, the team of SSV and the ATV driver stepped onto the winners’ podium.


Before the start, team’s racer Antanas Kanopkinas stated that in this contest, the team will have the same main aim - to test and prepare their vehicles for this year’s scheduled starts in foreign marathons. One of them is Rallye Breslau held in Poland, therefore the team is trying to overcome as many fighting kilometres as possible in Lithuania and test their vehicles at a maximum speed.






Antanas sat behind the wheel of CFMOTO ZFORCE 1000 SPORT SSV again. However, the team’s structure has recently changed. Until recently, the navigation was in Antanas’ wife Audra Kanopkiene’s hands and now, the navigator’s seat was taken by Jonas Kindurys.


Adomas Gancierius started with his CFMOTO CFORCE 1000 ATV in this contest, which has had upgrades on its exhaust system before the start.


On the first day, participants had only a symbolic prologue speed section in Taurage’s hippodrome as the real fight started the next day in long speed sections that required maximum focus.

After the three speed sections, team’s racer Antanas Kanoplinas was saying that the beginning of the race was going smoothly and according to the plan - the team was going as fast as possible, and avoided any serious technical issues of CFMOTO ZFORCE 1000 SPORT SSV. However, the mistakes in navigation were inevitable.

“The first speed section wasn’t great for us as it had a number of long straights and the high speed was needed to overcome it. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that, thus the aim there was to survive. Our engine was getting hot, but before the next speed section, we cleaned all radiators and gladly, the problems were gone”, Antanas said.

The day was going well for Adomas Gancierius, too. He won the second speed section and reached the third place in the first and the third sections. According to the racer, his CFMOTO CFORCE 1000 ATV withstood all the challenges very well.



“The second speed section was 64 km long with many navigational turns. I got lost in one place and tried fixing it by going at a maximum speed, and I managed it. ATV is in a good condition and we are ready to move forward”, Adomas said.

After six speed sections, the duo of Antanas Kanopkinas and Jonas Kindurys was classified for a third place in SxS class among other 8 SSVs. Keeping in mind that CFMOTO Factory Racing Team duo was going with ZFORCE 1000 SPORT model and trying hard to overtake the other participants with more superior vehicles, such result was very delightful.

“We reduced the pressure in the tyres to increase the traction. Of course, the risk for breaking it altogether became higher but we tried not to cut corners and so far, we are successfully moving towards the last day of the Perimeter”, Antanas shared his insights after day 3.


The day was also going well for the ATV driver Adomas Gancierius. He emphasised that some speed sections were actually deceptive yet he managed to avoid critical mistakes. After six speed sections, the racer was classified for a second place - he was 2 minutes behind the first.

Finally, on Saturday, the participants completed the last 2 speed sections. The duo of Antanas Kanopkinas and Jonas Kindurys with their CFMOTO ZFORCE 1000 SPORT SSV appeared among the 3 fastest ones after 8 speed sections, and claimed their third place trophies.


After such successful performance, the team’s racer Antanas was expressing his joy and contentment for the result achieved, bearing in mind that the majority of participants in SxS class had much more powerful vehicles. During the contest, the duo gained the second place twice and finished the third in other 3 speed sections.


“We managed to break the tyre on the last day, therefore we had to go with a flat tyre for the half of the speed section. We reached the finish on a rim, however we were glad that ITP rim withstood the ride to the finish line. We are in the third place”, Antanas said.

Adomas’ performance ended on a podium too. The team’s racer, who was driving CFMOTO CFORCE 1000 ATV, aimed for the highest step of winner’s podium, but he was pulled back by the technical issues. However, after all, he got a place on a podium by winning 2 speed sections.


“Some very fast routes were ahead on the last day, that’s why the variator belt was torn. It was only 40 seconds left for me to reach the first place, but after the belt’s tear, I lost the chance to fight for it. I was held off for half an hour while replacing the belt, however I am happy that I still managed to finish third”, said Adomas.


After testing the vehicles’ capabilities in a so called Lithuanian Dakar - the Perimeter - CFMOTO Factory Racing Team’s members will travel to Poland in mid-September, where one the most prestigious Rally Raid-style contest in Europe, Rallye Breslau, will be held lasting 5 days.



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