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| KTM's Coma second in OilLibya
Rally of Tunisia |
| KTM factory rider Marc Coma attacked the final
stage of the OilLibya Rally on Friday through tough
desert conditions to make a heroic charge back to the
front of the field to finish second overall behind
Francisco (Chaleco) Lopez of Chile and snatch his
third stage victory. |
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The Spaniard's ride this week underlined why he is at the apex
of his sport after a tyre incident just 40 km from the finish
line of stage two left him with a 25-minute deficit on Lopez
and stranded back in eighth place. He then settled down to
close what seemed like an impossible gap and in the process
won three stage victories and was second in a fourth.
But Marc was still looking down the barrel of a 20-minute gap
going into the final stage on Friday, which he then proceeded
to almost halve after what was a tough week's ride over
extreme desert conditions. "Everything went very well.
It was a very complete Rally, with many dunes and navigation,
and weather conditions that made things very complicated over
the last few days," Coma told reporters.
He said he was pleased with his last stage win and the second
place overall that allowed him to pick up valuable World
Championship points. "We had another good race, with a
good pace and despite the problems of the first few days we
fought to the end and did a very good job. Today was
particularly tough because, although the special wasn't very
long, the sand storm made it very difficult."
On Friday riders covered a 132 km special to the white erg of
El Fouarto and then had to negotiate their way through soft
and potentially treacherous white sand to wrap up the 2010
competition.
KTM riders made a good showing in the final shakeout with
Jakub Przygonski of Poland piloting his KTM into third place
overall, followed by his Polish teammate Jacek Czachor in
fourth. In total, KTM riders took seven of the top ten places
in the overall standings to underline the dominance of the
Austrian-made offroad machines.
Photos NPO Media Service
Overall results
1. Francisco Lopez, Chile, Aprilia 16:59:52
2. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM at 11:06
3. Jakub Przygonski, Poland, KTM at 22:29
4. Jacek Czachor, Poland, KTM at 01:29:30
5. David Casteu, France, Sherco at 01:34:22
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| Heroic comeback by Marc Coma gives him second place
in Tunisia rally |
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| Poland's Jakub Przygonski rides his KTM to third
overall |
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