Monday started early for the participants of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, with the first real racing day of this round of the world championship, during which the participants had to cover around 400 kilometers, more than half of which was the speed stage. The athletes of the CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team reached the finish line without hiding a smile on their faces, but had to stop on the track for an unforeseen reason.
"The track was very good, we had both high speed and high dunes. ATVs climbed all, even the highest, sand dunes without difficulty. We didn't get stuck once and the heat wasn't a problem either. True, we, like many other participants, ran out of fuel. We had only a few kilometers left to fuel filling zone, but we were empty, so we had to wait for the organizers to come and bring additional gasoline", said Antanas Kanopkinas.
The racer said that when going up a steep dune, he started running out of fuel when there were a few liters of gasoline left in the tank: "This happened because the pump in the tank is installed at the front, and when going up a dune, all the fuel ran to the back of the tank. So we drove round and around, trying to get gas in the tank reach the fuel pump. The mechanics will try to find a solution by tomorrow, because the coming days will be even longer and the dunes will not decrease."
Adomas Gančierius, when reached the finish line, told about the same problems that happened on the track. By the way, both members of the CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team ran out of fuel while riding on the same dune.
"Many people said that the dunes would be difficult to overcome, but I enjoyed every one of them. Of course, it is not easy, but the ATVs coped well with such conditions. It is very unfortunate that such an unforeseen problem arose, but we hope that the organizers will take appropriate decisions to avoid this on other days. The fuel ran out for more participants as well", said A. Gančierius.
On Tuesday, 365 kilometers await the participants, 257 of which will be the speed section. This one will again consist mainly of sand and dunes - according to the organizers, there will be almost 90 percent of them here, and 10 percent of the distance will have to be covered on the bottom of a dry lake.
