Sam Sunderland wins the Merzouga Rally 2013!

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Sam Sunderland wins the Merzouga Rally 2013! Rodrigues finished second, third Olivier Pain. The team Los amigos Abel – montagne wins in the SSV category STAGE 6 Jbel O Ramal "Sandy mountain" Liaison 39,99 km – 50,92 km – 58,41 km Total 149,32 km The sixth and final day of the Merzouga Rally started with [...]

Sam Sunderland wins the Merzouga Rally 2013!

Rodrigues finished second, third Olivier Pain. The team Los amigos Abel – montagne wins in the SSV category

STAGE 6 Jbel O Ramal "Sandy mountain"

Liaison 39,99 km – 50,92 km – 58,41 km Total 149,32 km

The sixth and final day of the Merzouga Rally started with a spectacular "Le Mans" style start in front of the Erg Rissani. Almost 80 riders jumped on their bikes and went straight into the soft sand of the Erg, before riding along the lake of Merzouga and the big dunes of the Erg Chebbi. Sam Sunderland, Helder Rodrigues and Gerard Farres were the first riders to cross the finish line in Merzouga. With today's result the Honda factory rider Sam Sunderland won the Merzouga rally 2013 both in the overall as well as in the Rally category. Behind Sam on the second step of the podium, Honda rider Helder Rodrigues, winner of the first edition of Merzouga rally in 2010. Olivier Pain finished third. A crash on the 3rd Yamaha factory rider to ride more conservative.

The Rally Lite category was won by French Arnold Brucy, son of the Dakar hero Jean Brucy, followed by Italian Cesare Zacchetti and Giorgio Papa.

The Quad podium was dominated by the Spanish riders with Fernandez Covadonga, first, Eduardo Marcos Echaniz second and Diego Ortega Gil, third.

Sam Sunderland (UK) Honda: "It was a great race and a great result for me and Honda. I enjoyed the "Le Mans style" start this morning, it was something unique and despite it was a shorter stage today, we had a hard job in the soft sand of the Erg Rissani. My congratulations to Edo (Mossi) for the Organization".

Helder Rodrigues (PT) Honda: "I won the first edition of Merzouga Rally and I have to say that the race has grown and improved a lot. It's a rally studied mainly for bikes with technical navigation, lots of dunes but also a good combination of varied terrain. I'm happy for this result and for the Honda squad".

Olivier Pain (FR) Yamaha: "I aimed at a better result but after I crashed on day 3 I preferred to ride more conservative so, all in all, I'm happy. It was a very good preparation for Dakar and I'm happy to have discovered the Merzouga Rally".

It was a hard and battled rally also for the SSV category: the SSV overall and SSV Lite Classification was won by Team Los Amigos with Abel Montagne – Montagne, second Culus – Bonneaudeau and third Busquets – Alberto Tome. The fastest in the SSV Rally category was the Xtreme Plus Team with Garry Connel and Annie Seel, followed by Laverdant – Rafart Team Los Amigos and Henrichy – Bersey.

Eric Abel – Cyril Montagne: "We are very happy for this result. It was a tough rally with technical navigation and lots of dunes. We are proud to crown are humanitarian project that we have here in Morocco with such a great result".

MERZOUGA RALLY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Merzouga Rally 2013 was also a special occasion for Edo Mossi to launch an environmental Campaign to keep the desert clean together with the Merzouga Community. Several Green bins "made in Merzouga" were placed in Merzouga area together with an educational project. Team Los Amigos was the first team of the Merzouga Rally to support the Organization in such an important campaign.

MERZOUGA RALLY 2013

Overall Bike Classification

1 Sunderland Sam

2 Rodrigues Helder

3 Pain Olivier

RALLY Classification

1 Sunderland Sam

2 Rodrigues Helder

3 Pain Olivier

RALLY Lite Classification

1 Brucy Arnoid

2 Zacchetti Cesare

3 Papa Giorgio

QUAD Quads Classification

1 Covadonga Fernandez

2 Marcos Echaniz Eduardo

3 Ortega Gil Diego

2.Stroke Classification

1 Debron Arnaud

2 Dieuleveut Thierry

3 Charliat François

SSV Overall and SSV Lite Classification

1 Abel – Montagne

2 Culus – Bonneaudeau

3 Busquets – Alberto Tome

SSV Rally Classification

1 Connel – Seel

2 Laverdant – Rafart

3 Henrichy – Bersey

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