KAMAZ-master put on a KAMAZ-masterclass in Thursday’s Silk Way Rally action. If not for Siarhei Viazovich spoiling the party, they would have finished 1–2–3–4–5.

Stage 6 was the longest and fastest leg of the race by far, stretching 385.71 kilometers in timed sections with drivers averaging speeds of over 117 km/h and riders hitting the maximum 140 km/h. Ironically, Eduard Nikolaev would finish the stage with a ten-second penalty for speeding on the liaison; Mongolia’s speed limit for road sections is 80 kilometers per hour for all vehicles, as opposed to 90 km/h when the race is in Russia.

Nikolaev initially led the way with his teammates right behind. Through the sixth checkpoint, the top six was separated by less than two minutes while sixth-placed Yuri Naiman was over six minutes back. However, a steering rod broke while going through a ravine so Nikolaev had to slow down, doing so just enough for Dmitry Sotnikov to pass and beat him for the stage win by one minute. The penalty fluffed the margin a bit to 1:10.

Anton Shibalov was third and 2:44 back of Sotnikov followed by Bogdan Karimov, who was 3:44 behind the winner. KAMAZ fell just short of a top five sweep because Siarhei Viazovich from rival MAZ pipped Almaz Akhmedov for fifth by just 31 seconds.

“The stage went well,” Sotnikov stated. “At the beginning, we lost a little time in the dust behind Yuri Naiman, but they did a great job and let us through properly. In the second part of the special, the gaps between the trucks were larger so there was no dust. There was a winding gravel road that was dangerous and treacherous in some places. I drove it, I enjoyed it. In general, it was a cool stage and I wish there were another 100 kilometers of these roads.”

Viazovich also maintains the overall lead, though Shibalov has sliced the gap down from 1:58 to 30 seconds.

While Viazovich is still hanging on to the Auto overall for now, the Moto lead changed hands as Murun Purevdorj scored his third consecutive stage victory to overtake Ilya Shcheglov. All four Moto classes had the same stage winners from Wednesday.

Purevdorj went into Stage 6 trailing Shcheglov by 5:40. However, in what he called a “tough day today”, Shcheglov lost his grip on the handlebars at a few times and had to chase another bike’s dust after making a “small navigational error” that caused him to lose a spot. He eventually caught up to Purevdorj but “had to let him go” when they reached the rocks.

“He rides much more confidently in [the rocks]. He’s young and hot-blooded,” Shcheglov said of Purevdorj. “But there’s still a whole race ahead. I can definitely go faster, but it’s too risky.”

Oleg Pavlenko, who led the G-Moto Challenge overall for much of the rally’s first half before surrendering to Ivan Li, had a scare that stemmed from a rock puncturing his front tire. After changing it, he rejoined the race and followed Ekaterina Zhadanova until he passed her, but “nearly killed myself” when his foot got caught in the rear wheel. Said wheel then went flat so he had to protect the bike for the final 12 kilometers, eventually finishing third in class. He also received 41 minutes of penalties for being late to the time control.

Despite their struggles, Pavlenko and Shcheglov’s day certainly could have gone worse. Many competitors also experienced tire failures, made navigation mistakes, or had other issues. Vitaliy Murylev decided to gamble when his tire went down by pressing on since he was 60 km from the finish, but it only lasted about three kilometers before breaking apart entirely.

“There were a lot of rocks today, so I think we weren’t the only ones with tire problems,” Murylev commented. He settled for eighth in T5.

The gap between T1 stage winner Pavel Andreev and runner-up Andrey Rudskoy was over 31 minutes, partly brought on because Rudskoy’s fuel cell was damaged in a hard landing in a hole. By the time he reached the finish, his legs were covered in fuel.

After missing the last two days due to a mechanical issue that needed repair, Andrey Novikov retired after rolling his G-Force just 12 kilometers into the stage. He explained there was a danger that wasn’t marked on the roadbook, though he assumes it only appeared after the directions were published since it “looks fresh”. Unaware, he hit the bump at speed and was launched airborne, flipping twice and landing on his roof.

Classmate Ruslan Gurylev had his turbocharger turn off in the closing stretch so he finished “at a snail’s pace” with a fourth in T3.

Alexey Popov had to overtake a bunch of SSVs while nursing back pain, for which he was given pills and taped his muscles together. He would finish 11th in T5. Ural teammate Anton Kushnikov, who rounded out the category’s top ten, lost his turbo at one point.

Naiman was going through a series of whoops when he overshot and hit the next jump, destroying one of his Ural’s shocks and springing a leak in the front left oil seal. He opted to continue to the finish despite the risk of overheating, successfully doing so seventh in T5.

“We had to slow down after reaching the neutralization zone, and this saved us,” Naiman commented. “But there is also great news: today is our mechanic Andrey Stanislavchuk’s birthday, so congratulations to him!”

Stage 6 winners

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1	7	204	Pavel Andreev	404 Racing Team	3:31:05
T2	22	215	Maksatmyrat Danatarov	Federation of Automobile Sport of Turkmenistan	4:38:52
T3	10	209	Dmitry Cherkesov	Dmitry Cherkesov	3:59:22
T5	1	301	Dmitry Sotnikov	KAMAZ-master	3:17:22
Open	16	220	Mikhail Mityaev	Lada Sport Auto Finance	4:11:42

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Motorally 450	1	11	Murun Purevdorj	Team Mongolia	3:58:55
Motorally Quad	7	176	Alexey Zverev	RM Sport	5:13:32
Motorally Open	12	59	Grigory Lein	SWD Racing	6:25:02
G-Moto Challenge	3	71	Ivan Li	Ivan Li	4:18:30

Leaders after Stage 6

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1	6	204	Pavel Andreev	404 Racing Team	11:43:15
T2	19	215	Maksatmyrat Danatarov	Federation of Automobile Sport of Turkmenistan	15:03:25
T3	8	207	Alexey Cherkesov	Alexey Cherkesov	12:27:58
T5	1	302	Siarhei Viazovich	MAZ-SPORTauto	10:47:23
Open	12	223	Anatoly Kuznetsov	Anatoly Kuznetsov	13:29:27

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
Motorally 450	1	11	Murun Purevdorj	Team Mongolia	13:08:21
Motorally Quad	10	176	Alexey Zverev	RM Sport	19:30:59
Motorally Open	16	59	Grigory Lein	SWD Racing	30:25:57
G-Moto Challenge	3	71	Ivan Li	Ivan Li	13:59:53

Featured image credit: KAMAZ-master