After a two-day trip, the CFMOTO Factory Racing Team reached Albania by land. A week-long endurance race awaits them here. On Saturday, racers were already waiting for the prologue speed section. In it, the organizers immediately offered an impressive landscape - a race on the seaside.
The CFMOTO Factory Racing Team in Albania, having completed all the formalities of the administrative and technical commissions, has already managed to test its equipment in combat mode. On Saturday, the organizers scheduled a prologue speed section. The distance of twenty kilometers was supplemented by twice as many more kilometers. It is according to the results of the prologue that the starting order of the first speed section will be laid, motorcycles mixed with ATVs and SSV duos with car crews.
Our ATV riders Adomas Gancierius and Antanas Kanopkinas argued that the introduction was an easy enough walk and to get a general impression of what was waiting so far was difficult. Still, the racers made navigational mistakes, but their price in the prologue was minimal.
“The prologue is very fast. There were a lot of beautiful views along the sea, it was out of that joy and I got lost. We wandered with Antanas, laughed and got back on the route. Since the result of the prologue is not counted in the total result of the competition, but is intended only to determine the starting positions of the first day, we have not lost anything, ”said Adomas Gancierius.
At that time, the duo of Darius Biesevičius and Audronė Kanopkinienė, racing in a SSV, immediately dive into adventure. In one of the sections where the river had to be crossed, the water sank the electronics and one of the navigator's main tools, the Trip Master system, stopped working. But the crew found a way out.
"We started in third position and overtook one opponent during the first four kilometers. Maybe we sat on his tail for another kilometer and a half. We overtook him at the seaside and approached the river that needed to be crossed. After passing it, a wave flooded us. As a result, the electronics failed to work. I was left without the opportunity to see the meters. But Darius had left me an old odometer on the panel. At first, Darius tried to ride the track of the other participants, and during that time I tried to pick up the meters. Within two kilometers I got it and continued the prologue. We finished with one small navigation error, but everything is fine, ”said Audronė Kanopkinienė.
During the week long Rally Albania race, participants will have to cover over 1,500 kilometers in total.