The Balkan Offroad Rallye in Romania reached the penultimate day of the rally on Thursday, when the winners of the rally and the organisers' season-long cup winners will be decided on Friday. CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team members were in first and second place in the overall standings ahead of the rally, but it's too early to celebrate.
Having so far faced both health problems and the vagaries of machinery, today participants were also presented with challenging and dangerous roads. Antanas Kanopkinas said that the tracks were as you would expect in Romania: "The first and second speed sections were very similar, some places were even repeated and it was real Romania: ditches, debris, rocks, steep descents and ascents, and driving between the trees. The results, by the way, are pleasing. Just over a minute between the main rivals - I like these conditions very much."
"The speed section today started from high up - the views were very beautiful and the speed section correspondingly dangerous. In one place I did a 'superman', that is, I raised off of the quad, but I managed to land safely and avoided a major incident," said Adomas Gančierius.
Although the first speed section went well, the problems started before the second one even started, as the organisers ran out of time cards, which are needed to keep track of the athletes' times.
"We waited for a long time before the organisers decided to put everyone on the track according to their starting positions in the morning, which was good for me as I started from fourth. However, the second speed section was very difficult - rain, fog, debris, steep climbs," said A. Gančierius, mentioning that unlike the previous days, today the speeds were very low.
The athlete also had a puncture four kilometres before the finish, but, as he says, these tyres have been used for enough kilometres and their characteristics are known, so he did not slow down too much.
A. Kanopkinas said that yesterday the technicians still made some technical changes to the quads and the results show that they were done properly. CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team pilots and mechanics are usually looking for ways to further improve or fix weaknesses during the races, so even when they come back with a healthy machine, mechanics are usually busy preparing the quad for the next day.
Friday is the last day of the rally in Romania, and racers are looking forward to it, as their bodies are already requesting some rest. After crossing the finish line on Friday, not only the winners of this rally, but also the winners of the whole season will be announced.