Cross Country World Championships – Walkner takes first place in Kazakhstan


After the second stage of the Kazakhstan Rally, which is part of the FIM Cross-Country Rally World Championship, Walkner is just ahead of the overall standings. Today’s marathon stage finishes the Kuchler in second place behind the American Skyler Howes and confirms his good form again.

The 279 kilometers of the second stage were again very much a wish for the Salzburg man. In the end, only the American Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) was able to distance him by 1:10 minutes. Walkner takes the overall lead and is 22 seconds ahead of the day’s winner after the second of five days.

The Kuchler was relieved: “Today was a great day! I started second and knew that since I would have a maximum of one lane in front of me, I had to navigate really well so as not to lose any time. I drove at a relatively good pace and found a good compromise between navigation and speed in order to be as error-free as possible. “

Like in a computer game
In the second part of the journey it was important not to cause any more serious mistakes, the speed was extremely high. “Sometimes I felt like I was in a computer game where you ride the most powerful motorcycle and on top of that you have a turbo function. Sometimes you don’t even notice much, the wind whistles around your ears and you no longer get below 150 km / h. Of course, this is brutally exhausting for the head as well.

On Friday there are still 53 more kilometers to be scored – in the middle of the wilderness. Walner explains: “We sleep secluded in some hotel and can only do repairs on the motorcycle ourselves. I only changed the air filter, otherwise my KTM is fully operational for tomorrow. “