From 26th to 29th of October in Volgograd region the baja “Sands of Archeda” – the final stage of the Russian championship in rally-raid took place.
The race went under the aegis of the Russian Automobile Federation and Russian Motorcycling Federation in 3 days rally-raid with a distance of 880 km, 600 km of which went into the time results. Archeda-Donskoy sand massive became the main venue of the sports participants for the competitors from all standings.
In a sports programme, there were planned 3 race days and 5 special stage standings: the shirt prologue passed on Friday, the 27th of October, right after the finish of scrutineering and on Saturday and on Sunday the race included 2 circles with 150 km length each.
At truck standings, except of four team crews of the “KAMAZ-master”, the teams “MAZ-SPORT auto” (3 crews), “Ural Morsport” (one crew) and “Gaz Raid Sport” (2 crews).
The KAMAZ crew Dmitry Sotnikov did not leave any chance to a victory to rivals while the interesting competition with Belorussian pilot Sergey Vyazovich. He showed an excellent time in each day of the rally. As well a young pilot of the team “KAMAZ-master” Bogdan Karimov proved himself successfully. The crews of Eduard Nikolaev and Andrey Karginov had time loss by several reasons and couldn’t be competitive to the leaders for a fight for a podium.
Resuming the overalls of the competition, Dmitry Sotnikov said: “It was a hard race for all competitors. The first reason is the weather: cold and rainy. The mechanics and the crews got it too. Sometimes it had to react by the situation, there were problems of all athletes. It can be said, that each participant had mistakes, because the tension of the fight was high, everyone tried to attack. Our team showed excellent well-done job. I think also that the crew did its best. The co-pilot Ruslan Akhmadeev is tough today! We launched the track, went away the first among others, we had to follow the route and cut it not leaving a chance to a rival. The separate thanks to our mechanics, who continued to prepare the trucks every day in rain and coldness. Our “KAMAZ” of K5 family showed excellent speed. We took the maximum at the routes, which show the real off-road conditions: being sandy, hilly, killing for trucks and for people. In contrast to the classic rally style straightaways, which were mainly the tracks of this season's competitions, the sands and rugged terrain of the classic Dakar are just what suits us better. I am glad that we were able to please our fans and partners and we are finishing the season on this good note. Thank you very much for your support!”
