Quinn Cody Finishes Sealine XC Rally

Cycle News Staff | April 26, 2013
  Quinn Cody at the Sealine Rally in Dakar.

Quinn Cody finished sixth at the Sealine XC Rally in Qatar.

Quinn Cody (Monster Energy/Speedbrain) raced to a sixth-place overall finish at the FIM World Cross Country Rally World Championships tour’s second round in Qatar. Afterwards, Cody talked a bit out his ride.

Final Stage

Day Four – “Overall it’s been a cool experience. Big learning curve, just really stoked that Speedbrain and Monster have supported me in this rally. Not a lot of Americans get the opportunity to come over and do this event, so I’m really honored to have had the chance.”

The Qatar Rally Experience

“Experience, mainly. And some more fitness, been a while since I raced a bike. So to get four hard days of racing in is huge for me right now as I continue to recuperate. It’s almost like a training camp… really intense. Early mornings and long stages have given me a good jump to get back to full fitness.”

Final Stage

“Today’s stage was good. Got the navigation figured out now, didn’t have much trouble. When I got into a tricky situation I’d just pay attention to the road book and get it down. I was a little tired from the week, but managed to get in without any problems.”

On the bike

“I know I was definitely running over 100 miles per hour on some of the dry lake beds. The top end of the Speedbrain bike is just crazy fast. It’s at least five miles per hour faster than any of the other bikes out there.”

On the spectacular finish sprint

“There’s a final dune with this crazy 30-foot drop just straight down to the beach. It wasn’t marked in the road book so we were like ‘Whoa!’ when we came up over it. If you didn’t make the turn you were into the water for sure. Being able to ride along the Persian Gulf, just wide open down the beach with people everywhere was just really cool.

“Last three days has been a major learning experience. Figuring out how everything works here – the rulebooks, the terrain here, the new bike. Everything’s basically like starting from scratch. I hadn’t really ridden the bike here until now. Building on everything day-by-day, figuring out the navigation and figuring out the desert. Overall, it’s been a great experience. Everybody’s been cool, you know? The food’s really good and everyone’s really excited to have us here racing.”