Sunderland drowned and out
The highs and lows of racing are often dictated by riding conditions. Which was the case at the Oilibya Rally of Morocco where Britain’s only Dakar winner, Sam Sunderland, fell foul of flash flooding and dropped out of contention for the 2017 Cross-country Rallies World Championship. For the second year in a row Sunderland was fighting Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla for the world title going into the final round in Morocco. Sam won the Super Stage prologue race and was third on day one before drowning his KTM 450 RR rally bike in an impossible to read river crossing. Rally rules mean the previous day’s fastest riders lead out the next day and Sunderland was leading stage two when he had to make the decision to follow the marked route into the swollen river. All riders had problems but at least they had Sam and his drowned bike as a warning.