Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Daniel Sanders had lots to be happy with at the end of the second full day of racing at the Sonora Rally as the Aussie charger topped the day's timesheets to claim victory and move into the provisional overall rally lead. Frustratingly for the team, it was anything but a good day for defending rally world champion Sam Sunderland, as the Brit crashed out of both the stage and the event early on in the day’s shortened special stage!
Among the first riders into today’s shortened special stage, Sanders managed to ride his way through the opening 40-50-kilometers without any troubles, before finding his rhythm, and dodging the local wildlife! Head down and mistake free, Chucky topped the provisional results in a time of one hour and 28 minutes, more than one minute ahead of his closest challenger Tosha Schareina.
Second on stage one and now winner on stage two, Sanders holds the provisional overall rally lead, just 21 seconds ahead of Schareina.
At kilometer 24, Sunderland crashed when he overshot a super high-speed right turn, plowing into a washed-out section of track and falling from his GASGAS RX 450F. Banged up, shaken up, and fortunate to escape serious injury, Sam was quickly back on his feet but out of the event.
Daniel Sanders: “Yeah it was a good day for me. I started second, managed to get through the opening kilometers ok, but there were some sketchy places out there. So I was just pleased that I didn’t crash, and got through to some nice flowing tracks. I was just trying not to make any mistakes and ride smooth. I almost hit a cow at about 140 kilometers an hour, and also saw a few really big snakes, so it was an eventful stage. I got a good result and avoided any cactuses, so all good for me.”
Results Sonora Rally 2023 – stage 2 (provisional)
1. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 1:28:08
2. Tosha Schareina (Honda) 1:29:23
3. Ricky Brabec (Honda) 1:30:26
Provisional Standings – Sonora Rally 2023 (after stage 2)
1. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 3:46:59
2. Tosha Schareina (Honda) 3:47:20
3. Ricky Brabec (Honda) 3:51:15