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Saab Salomon – Ready to Raid

Rob Howard / 27.04.2005

After their dramatic 3rd place in last year’s Raid World Championships, UK team Saab Salomon have set their sights on an even better result this year, and are aiming to start with a good result at the ‘Raid round one’ in Western Australia this coming weekend.

The team arrived last weekend, allowing themselves plenty of preparation time, and have buddied up with Team Powerade Audi from Perth, who they met at the Australian round of the Raid last year. Tim Smitheringale’s team have been hosting them and will help with team support during the race.

The UK squad know the area already, having raced their last year, when they finished 4th. A good result, but a disappointment to a team with high expectations. “We led on day one,� said Team Manager Tim Lloyd, “then made a mistake on the final canoe stage and could not get back. It’s always so close you have to minimise mistakes.�

He added, “We know how it’s a beautiful area though, and that we’ll get a fantastic welcome. The fact it isn’t mountainous is bad for us, it’s very flat and sandy, but I guess the French and other European teams will feel the same. This year we are in the same qualifying zone as the French teams so it’s going to be tougher to qualify, but we’re confident.�

Saab Salomon are one of the 7 teams booked to race all 4 qualifiers this year (and all count) … and the other 6 are French, but there are 10 Raid World Championship places available from the Western Europe zone.

Saab Salomon will face high quality teams from all over the world this weekend, and for those in the Asia/Oceania group it may be their only chance to get points for qualification, so they’ll have extra incentive. Seagate from New Zealand, AROC and John Jacoby’s Montrail team will all be among the ‘local’ favourites. Undaunted Lloyd said, “We want to do better in qualification this year … and in the World Championships!�

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