13 September, Turkmen lake
The third stage of the rally-raid "Amul-Hazar 2018" led the participants to the shores of the man-made Turkmen Lake. The idea to collect drainage water from nearby irrigated massifs in the deserted Karashor cavity, which arose in the 1960s, was already implemented in the newest history of Turkmenistan. In 2013, the basin started to fill with water. Since then, the lake has significantly increased in size and a rather long section of today's special stage passed along its shore.
The special stage began with fast, but curvy roads along the railway, which led the crews to the zone of sand and dried-up lakes. Then there was an abandoned channel with a quite flat bottom and correspondingly high speed of driving along it. It should be noted that the desert is becoming increasingly arid, on smooth, weather-beaten barkhans, there are less and less vegetation. And one of these sandy ergs, about a kilometer in length, was proposed by the organizers as the main task of today's stage.
The distance was small, but to be careful the organizers took into account that many contestants are novices and not ready to drive in sands. And evacuation from the sands is very difficult, especially since the caravan rally has gone very far from the settlements (the assistant teams drove up 670 kilometers to today's bivouac)
Approximately on the 50th kilometer of the special stage Airat Mardeev saw in the rear-view mirrors "MAZ" of Siarhei Viazovich. The track here was very twisting and it could seem that the Belarusian crew was catching up. But in fact, the distance between rivals was quite large. Dmitry Sotnikov, who was driving behind Mardeev and Viazovich, said that judging by the treads, at high speed on the turns MAZ often “drove out” of the road. In one place he even crushed a small dry tree growing along the road. It did not go without consequences - soon the Belarusian crew had to stop to replace the wheel due to a puncture. It should be noted that Sotnikov’s crew had an emergency stop because of a malfunction of the turbocharger rpm sensor. The breakdown was promptly fixed and the crew continued to drive. 236 kilometers of the distance were quickly overcome by the crew of A. Mardeev (3 hours 21 minutes 03 seconds). Siarhei Viazovich and Dmitry Sotnikov were 10 and 15 minutes behind respectively. It also should be noted that Mardeev's crew is now on the third position in the general standings, yielding the top of the table only to two representatives of the car category Catalan Nani Roma and Czech Miroslav Zapletal.
Two full days of the race are ahead. Tomorrow, on 14 September, 245-kilometer stage to Gamyshhlyja awaits the sportsmen, the day after tomorrow 234 kilometers to Turkmenbashi and the ceremonial finish of the rally on the shore of the Caspian Sea.
Quotations
Dmitry Sotnikov, pilot of crew №402
"The day was quite hard for vehicle. Part of the stage passed along a dried-up old canal, the bottom of which was loose viscous sand. At the end of the stage there were sandy ergs with small, but sharp dunes. To save the truck it was important to drive skillfully, restraining the speed. Here we had to bear it because at the end of a special stage you always want to get to the bivouac as soon as possible. "
Airat Mardeev, pilot of crew № 400
"Today there was a lot of fesh-fesh. But fortunately I did not have to drive long in the dust. In front of us there were four jeeps. We did not overrun only Nani Roma. We overtook Miroslav Zapletal. And the cars of Harry Hunt and Hojaguly Annamammedow were standing with breakdowns. "
Сlassification in the truck category after 3rd stage
1. MARDEEV 03:21:03
2. VIAZOVICH 03:31:03 +00:10:00
3. SOTNIKOV 03:36:01 +00:14:58
4. VISHNEUSKI 03:38:15 +00:17:12
5. VASILEVSKI 03:40:34 +00:19:31
General classification in the truck category after 3rd stage
1. MARDEEV 10:30:05
2. VIAZOVICH 10:41:16
3. SOTNIKOV 10:44:21
4. VISHNEUSKI 11:02:23
5. VASILEVSKI 11:28:32
