First Racing Day in Croatia: Quad Rolled Down the Mountain

On Monday, the competition week of the Dinaric Rally in Croatia officially began, with participants facing a demanding 400 kilometers across various mountain tracks. From the very first kilometers, the CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team riders showed impressive speed, but the challenging terrain was a reminder of how easy it is to push too hard here.

“It was a long day – seven hours on the track, full of action and adventure. The riding felt good, but the course was slippery, rocky, full of holes – and most importantly, I rolled my quad down a mountain. Fortunately, I am unhurt. The quad is more or less fine too, although I had to cover 250 kilometers dealing with certain technical issues,” said Antanas Kanopkinas at the finish of Day 1. He also noted that he would receive additional time penalties for speeding. Despite everything, he was happy to have finished safely and lost relatively little time.

“So far, the mountains don’t like me – and they never had. I’ll have to figure out how to deal with that,” the rider added with a smile.

Preliminarily, Kanopkinas set the third-fastest time among the quads today, while his teammate Adomas Gančierius finished second. However, results may still change once the organizers account for all participants’ penalties.

Having completed his first competitive kilometers in Croatia, Gančierius remained positive after the finish: “The course was interesting all the way. The first part was slippery mountain roads – half a day of drifting. The second part was across mountain ridges, meadows, and rocks, where we were bouncing around. The third part was all about maximum speed.

I didn’t make any navigation mistakes, and I’m really starting to enjoy Croatia. It has everything – forests, mountains, sandy stretches. I didn’t damage the quad today, I rode safely. The tires wore down a little, but the mechanics will just need to do standard checks and we’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

On Tuesday, competitors will face a distance nearly half as long, across mixed terrain, but the organizers promise challenging navigation sections. While today’s leader, Polish rider Piotr Michalak, was several minutes faster than Adomas Gančierius, the overall standings remain highly competitive.