Yamaha’s factory rally raid team has made up for its embarrassment earlier this year, with rider Ross Branch taking first at Rally Kazakhstan, and Adrien Van Beveren finishing third.
It was a significant win for Branch at Rally Kazazkhstan; the Kalahari Ferrari has only been on the Yamaha factory squad a few months, and he was chuffed to prove he’s got what it takes to beat the best in the world.
Photo: Yamaha
KTM’s Matthias Walkner was second overall, Daniel Sanders rode a GasGas to fourth, and Andrew Short took a Yamaha to fifth. Again, very reassuring results to the Yamaha squad. No doubt the KTM brain trust was also happy to see Sanders do so well, as he’s widely expected to be Team Orange’s next mulleted moto-maniac, if/when Toby Price moves over to cars.
Silk Way comes next
The five-stage Rally Kazkahstan was the opening event in the 2021 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship. The next challenge, the Silk Way Rally, will be far more difficult. This July 1-11 race will take riders through Russia to end in Mongolia. Like other stops on the rally raid scene this year, it’s doubtful all the aces will show up, but as Silk Way gains prestige, hopefully we can get better international coverage of this event.
Source: advrider.com