Silk Way Rally debutant , Ross Branch ( Monster Yamaha Rally Official Rally Team ) took the general classification lead on stage 2 . Then came the marathon stage and the end of the rider from Botswana ; an engine failure put pay to his charge .
Matthias Walkner of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing took advantage of Branch ’ s exit . The Austrian , another to make his Silk Way debut , only had to win the marathon stage to take the overall lead and a position hard to be relinquished .
“ It ’ s a shame the rally had to be shortened , but the organisers did a great job of giving us a full event to race ,” explained Walkner . “ To win the famous tiger trophy here at the Silk Way feels amazing , and with my win here I ’ m now also leading the championship . I couldn ’ t have asked for a better result really .”
Combined with his second-place finish at round one of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship – Rally Kazakhstan – Walkner moves into the lead of the series standings with a 21.5 point advantage over the second-placed rider .
Australian , Daniel Sanders , also a rookie on the event , won three of the five stages yet amazingly didn ’ t place on the podium missing out by less than one minute
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