ANDREW SHORT CLAIMS THIRD ON RALLY DU MAROC STAGE TWO.
ROCKSTAR ENERGY HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING RIDER MOVES UP TO SECOND OVERALL IN PROVISIONAL STANDINGS.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Andrew Short has overcome a tricky-to-navigate stage two of the 2019 Rally du Maroc to finish in an excellent third place. Teammate Pablo Quintanilla brought his FR 450 Rally home safely in eighth.
With the 435-kilometre second stage of the Rally du Maroc incorporating more of the off-piste sand of the Sahara Desert, Andrew Short found himself in his element. Deftly navigating his way through the dunes of the 386-kilometre timed special, the American star was able to make up 10 places from the day before. His impressive result elevates him to second overall in the provisional rally standings.
Starting well and making up time on the riders ahead of him, Pablo Quintanilla looked set to put in another strong performance on stage two. Carrying too much speed from the top of one of the day’s many dunes caused the Argentinian to land harder than desired and resulted in a slightly twisted ankle. Rather than push on and risk further injury Pablo maintained a steady pace on the long stage to ultimately clock the eighth fastest time. Thankfully no damage was incurred to his Husqvarna FR 450 Rally and the former world champion plans to push hard again tomorrow and make up time on his rivals.
Andrew Short:“Today was pretty good for me, it’s been more typical Morocco style in terms of the road book riding in an out of the rios and we passed the famous Merzouga dunes a couple of times too. At refuelling I had a good time and there were a few riders ahead of me so I pushed really hard to catch them too. I had a few mistakes, three main ones, and ended up losing a fair bit of time. but I think everyone had some issues today so overall, I had a really good day. If I compare myself to how I was last year here, I’ve made a lot of progress, so I’m really happy about that.”
Pablo Quintanilla:“Today was a very long stage and included tricky navigation from the beginning to the end. There were a lot of changes of direction and a wide variety of terrains including dunes and stony areas. I was feeling good in the morning and decided to push, but I jumped off one dune and hurt my ankle a little. After that I preferred to ride a little more safely and not risk too much. With no assistance at the end of the stage it was important to look after the bike too and luckily for me the bike is ready for tomorrow with no problems. Now we’ll see how things go tomorrow.”
2019 Rally du Maroc – Stage 2 Provisional Classification
1. Joan Barreda (Honda) 4:56:37
2. Kevin Benavides (Honda) 5:02:03
3. Andrew Short (Husqvarna) 5:02:25
4. Ross Branch (KTM) 5:05:37
5. Luciano Benavides (KTM) 5:05:58 +9:21
6. Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha), 05:06:08
…
8. Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) 5:11:40
2019 Rally du Maroc – Provisional Overall Classification [After Stage 2]
1. Joan Barreda (Honda) 8:44:09
2. Andrew Short (Husqvarna) 8:50:34
3. Luciano Benavides (KTM) 8:52:36
4. Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) 8:53:47
5. Ross Branch (KTM) 8:55:16
6. Kevin Benavides (Honda) 8:56:00
…
9. Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) 8:59:14
Text/Bild: Husqvarna