Third and the last stage of the Bakha “Krym” (Crimea) was represented by two laps, 88 km each, and ended on the 30th of April. “Traditionally, I planned this special stage as a “navigator performance”, said Sergey Talantsev, the developer of the track, - today they will have a titanic job – a lot of heavily noticeable pathways, a lot of slopes into deep ravines, a lot of stones, which are described in the roadbooks. The result of the crew will depend on the navigator, how well he will handle with all these navigational puzzles. In fact, the whole stage is magnificent, there are places where you ride out onto the plateau and see the area of dozens kilometers around. I think that crews will have time to see it and enjoy the amenities, especially, navigators and pilots, as they have to struggle with the track and watch with their eyes”.
“KAMAZ-Master” crews fully appreciated the efforts of organizers, who wished to make the race dynamic and outstanding, crews worked out all three days to the full estate and as fast as the wind, demonstrating impressive results in the end. Despite non-standard situations, twists and turns of the last day of the race, crews of Andrey Karginov, Airat Mardeev, Anton Shibalov fought alongside with the best crews – performers of AUTO category and achieved 2nd, 4th and 6th places in the final standing of the 2nd stage of Russian Rally-Raid Championship respectively.
QUOTATIONS
Anton Shibalov, pilot of the crew №301:
“Track isn’t appropriate for trucks: trees are too low, brunches, bushes… On the first lap we had to literally “hack the track through”. Today we were overtaking a lot, turned over other participants a lot and put them back on wheels. We had enough of everything! We don’t know the result yet, but we hope that it is good enough. We couldn’t manage to take shortcuts as the area was mountainous and the wood was solid. We lost a lot of time today while helping the GazRaid Sport team to put their “Gazel” back on wheels”.
Airat Mardeev, pilot of the crew №302:
“Everything is great, the track is rather interesting, very rapid. You drive almost always at maximum speed, especially the second half of the special stage. It’s necessary to get used to the area. We are used to Astrakhan, we know where to take a shortcut and do it courageously, however the area here is different: solid grass, a lot of stones, and yawners are not noticeable. We were first among trucks, only two jeeps were in front of us, that’s why we were a bit careful and didn’t burn up so confidently as we could. The vehicle performs well. My young navigator Dmitry Svistunov managed greatly, only in a pair of places we went a bit to the left and to the right. It is not a big deal for the first time. He keeps up great with my pace. I am very glad with his debut. He got through his first special battle stage well. In future we will train him to replace experienced residents of the team”.
Andrey Karginov, pilot of the crew №300:
“I loved the track. The whole time I had the feeling of something interesting and new. Today we tested Ilnur Mustafin - new mechanic of the crew on board again: we were changing a tire, which loosed perhaps because of the jolting and was lost on the track after the changing. Navigator of the crew Alexander Kupriyanov showed himself well, he warned about possible shortcuts in advance. It was giving a reasonable time preference on the track full of 90-degrees turns“.
