On April 17, the participants of the Baja "Zoloto Kagana" moved to the Krasnoyarsk and Kharabalinsky districts of the Astrakhan region. The duration of the third special stage was 232 km, which the sportsmen had to pass without technical support and refueling. At the stage, they were waiting for the "big slotting" promised by the organizers in the form of the famous tussock, some dangerous sand and fast steppe straights.
KAMAZ people always consider such killer tracks “their own”, Andrey Karginov proved it today, who finished with the best time in absolute terms and, most importantly, managed to close the gap in the general classification from the Belarusian leader Siarhei Viazovich by 8 minutes 36 seconds in the general classification. Airat Mardeev showed the second time in the truck classification today (the third time in the overall classification). He lost to the crew of A. Karginov 3 minutes 54 seconds.
Unfortunately, the tough Astrakhan track forced Sergey Kupriyanov's crew to stop. The transmission failure turned out to be fatal, the car could not continue moving, and a team tow truck was sent to the rescue.
Tomorrow is the decisive day of the baja “Zolotol Kagana”. The 254-kilometer special stage will determine the winner in the truck category. So far, the crew of Siarhei Viazovich from MAZ-SPORTauto is leading the race. The Russians Andrey Karginov and Airat Mardeev, who compete at KAMAZ trucks, cede to the Belarusian athlete in the general classification by 04 min 24 sec and 11 min 30 of sports time, respectively.
Airat Mardeev, pilot of the crew №301 (KAMAZ-master team)
“Everything went well, this is an interesting special stage. I like to ride on this side of the Volga. We were waiting for more off-road, but the organizers seemed to take pity on us, because there were many straight high-speed sections, which are usually not so typical for stages laid along the left bank of the Volga. Unfortunately, in one place we went aside from the course on the wrong road for several kilometers, we had to return. But it's also an experience. The bonnet version allows you to drive faster on long shares with hard bumps. The suspension works better, there is no shakedown. In such areas, we tried to attack in order to win back the lost time”.
Siarhei Viazovich, pilot of the crew №302 (МАZ-SPORTauto»)
“We drove well. It's hard to go first. According to navigation, we once made a mistake about 50 kilometers before the finish. "We went" three kilometers back and forth. There were a lot of roads "in the grass". We tried not to risk it. We kept an accurate pace, we understood that the starting time handicap would allow us to even let Andrey Karginov in and still have a minute and a half to spare. Therefore, we drove to save equipment and the general classification”.
Andrey Karginov, pilot of the crew №300 (KAMAZ-master team)
“We started fifth in the overall standings, slowly caught up with one buggy, the second, the third ... We understood that we were going the second after another truck. There was a trace. The road is fast in places, sometimes deadly, there are a lot of undercuts, and in these undercuts you can both save time and lose, because there are very dangerous pits and ruts. Road with constant tosses. Difficult day. I had to be constantly attentive. Well, shortly before the finish felt the smell of oil. To be on the safe side, we stopped, ran out, looked, most likely, one of the hub seals was leaking, but this did not affect the journey and we continued to move. Our new navigator and mechanic worked well. A couple of times "flew" turns, returned. But the guys are progressing every day.”
