Cycle News Staff | July 16, 2024
Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the 2024 Silk Way Rally carved through five regions of the Russian Federation in the Altai Mountains and the sands of the Gobi Desert, July 5-15.
Alexey Naumov
The more than 5000-mile rally, which included a daunting 100-kilometer stretch of dunes, finished in Mongolia after 11 days of competition, and it was Alexey Naumov (Federation of Free Bikers Team) on the top step of the podium for the Moto (Cross Country 450) class in his second Silk Way victory.
The Russian outperformed runner-up Murun Purevdorj of Team Mongolia, who was presented with the “Will to Win Gazprom Cup,” which is the equivalent of a hard-charger award. Team Naikom Extreme Motocross’ Ekaterina Zhadanova rode his KTM 450 EXC-F to third.
Purevdorj, who had taken the lead in stage six, encountered technical difficulties at the seventh stage when his Husqvarna 450’s engine became water-logged while attempting to cross a deep ford. He lost nearly an hour of time while waiting for his КТМ 450 Rally to dry out.
“I had a problem with my motorcycle: it got wet in the river, water got into the engine,” said Purevdorj. “I got stuck for about an hour and tried to figure out the problem, tried to get rid of the water, which took a while, but in the end I continued the rally. The track was good, the dunes were great. I try to attack and not to waste time.”
Naumov also encountered the troublesome water crossing that was around 40 to 50 kilometers from the start.
“There was a small stream, clayey, silty inside, viscous,” said Naumov. “I drive up, Murun Purevdorj is sitting right in this stream and shows me, ‘Don’t drive in, but push.’ I drove around in circles, found a place, got off the motorcycle, and it went straight into the water. And I fall down. And that’s it, the motorcycle stalled. Murun is sitting, and I’m sitting 20 meters further. I started to take out my motorcycle, I helped Murun, and all the other guys were driving up, I showed them to stop. So we raised the motorcycle and drained the water. It started up and moved on. The selective section is interesting, more difficult than yesterday, live, with cool dunes.”
Murun Purevdorj
When Ekaterina Zhadanova, who took the bronze medal, encountered the eventual first- and second-placed riders in the water he made the correct decison to jump the ford.
“The ford was very challenging,” said Zhadanova. “There the Mongolian rider [Purevdorj] lay down, Naumov stood. More guys arrived and found a way to jump the ford from bank to bank. I jumped over and moved on.”
Unfortunately, Zhadanova later suffered a breakdown and was forced to stop to repair his КТМ 450EXC F, relegating him to third in the end.
Ekaterina Zhadanova
Alexey Naumov
In the G-Moto Challenge, where competitors must overcome obstacles on the racing route without assistance, KTM EXC 500-mounted Oleg Pavlenko emerged victorious. In his inaugural Silk Way Rally appearance, Ivan Li secured the second-place position with his Husqvarna FE 450, while Anton Kruglov, riding a KTM 690R, was classified in third.
Anton Elikov
In the Adventure Trophy category, designed for motorcyclists without prior racing experience, the GS Rally Team was the overall winner this year. Under the guidance of experienced instructor Evgeny Pyatigorsky, Gleb Koltsov and Konstantin Byakov successfully completed the rally first for the class. The second-place finishers were members of the BigBoxer Team, led by Stanislav Chvizhenko. The top three overall were completed by a trio from QjMotor, led by Vladimir Khutorovsky. CN
OVERALL MOTO (Top 5)
- Alexey Naumov (Hus)
- Oleg Pavlenko (KTM)
- Ekaterina Zhadanova (KTM)
- Ivan Li (KTM)
- Anton Kruglov (KTM)
