This year’s Morocco Rally has seriously challenged Rafał Sonik’s perseverance. Since day one, the quad rider from Krakow has been experiencing more than enough adventures. Trouble often comes in double which meant that, during the third marathon stage, Sonik had to repair the fault in his vehicle all by himself.
It was around noon when the organizer informed that the Polish champion’s quad came to a halt the 120th kilometer. The reason for the break was not clarified at that time, and after about half an hour, “SuperSonik” was back on the road. The situation was explained at the bivouac by Sonik himself.
“I’ve been having issues with my quad from the very beginning of this competition. First, another driver crushed into the side of my Raptor, damaging the control arm bolt. Yesterday, the failure of several little things kept bothering me on the road. Today, the aluminum pipe of the GPS mount broke and I had to come up with a provisional fix to make it hold at least for the time being. It seems fine for now and I hope it will last until the end of tomorrow’s stage. However, the lack of tech support tonight does make it a bit dicey”, reported Sonik.
“Any quad needs daily maintenance. I had to fix it by myself today and I might have to repair it again tomorrow if something odd happens. Obviously, it adds to stress”, added Sonik, exhausted after the long and demanding stage.
Not unlike the other drivers, the 6-time FIM World Cup winner was not able to avoid all navigational traps. Even the day’s fastest motorcyclist, Sam Sunderland, complained about the vague markings in the roadbook and numerous pitfalls. “I haven’t seen this type of navigation for a long time. I doubt there is someone among us who was able to complete the stage with a decent result and without losing a lot of precious time on navigational mistakes“, commented Rafał Sonik.
On Monday, the competitors are set to tackle a 294-kilometer special stage. If they succeed in reaching Erfoud, there will only be 200 kilometers left between them and the final finish line in Fes.