RESULTS Overall Motorcycle 1 Jacopo Cerutti ( Aprilia ) 2 Allesandro Botturi ( Yamaha ) 3 Pol Tarres ( Yamaha )
Up to 450cc 1 Alexandre Vaudan ( KTM ) 2 Attilio Fert ( KTM ) 3 Marco Fontana ( Honda )
450cc plus 1 Giovanni Stigliano ( Husqvarna ) 2 Stefano Chiussi ( Husqvarna ) 3 Nicola Dutto ( KTM )
Yamaha Rally Team included riders Allesandro Botturi ( two time winner ), Pol Tarres ( last year ’ s 650cc + class winner ), and Nicolas Charlier , while the new Aprilia Racing GCorse team sported Jacopo Cerutti and Francesco Montanari . A BATTLE ROYALE Two machines were at the front of the motorcycle class from the very start - Aprilia ’ s Tuareg and Yamaha ’ s Tenere 700 . It was Cerutti , Botturi and Tarres who dominated , taking all the stage wins between them . Overall winner Cerutti and runner-up Botturi with four stage wins apeice and Tarres the three stage wins . Cerutti lead from the start and never gave up the overall lead despite some incredible riding from both Botturi and Tarres . Two-time winner Botturi came close to unseating Cerutti at the top of the time sheets and , despite provisionally winning Stage 9 , a six minute time penalty saw Cerruti extend his lead . At the finish , Botturi was only six minutes and
38 seconds behind Cerruti - the time penalty proving to be the deciding factor . Pol Tarres took the third step on the podium 25 minutes back from winner Cerruti . A huge shout out must go to Pedrero who bullied his Harley Davidson Pan America through the sands to 25th place . With the adventure bikes we can actually buy being raced once again , we ’ ll be tuning into the Africa Eco Race again that ’ s for sure .
48 KIWI RIDER