With two days of the Pharoans Rally successfully navigated Tim Trenker remains on target to achieve his goal of becoming a world champion at the weekend.
The Dubai motorcyclist is second in the Open Production Trophy category of the FIM Cross-Country Rally World Championship following yesterday's second leg of the event in Egypt, which covered a distance of 352km. The German only needs to finish to be champion, but he acknowledged that the need to balance speed with caution had made it a difficult event to pace thus far.
"It is going well and I feel that I am controlling it quite well at the moment," he said last night from Egypt. "Judging my speed has been tough as I cannot go too slow, but on the other hand I do not want to take too many risks as there is a lot riding on me finishing the event. "Today was good. We were able to get up a decent speed in the sand and I did not have to push too hard to get a good time.
"So far it is going well and I am just looking to keep my focus and not make any mistakes." Today's third day is a 450km stage, which takes the riders close to the dunes of Egypt's Great Sand Sea. Trenker is expecting another challenging day. He added: "It is a navigational test as there are long stretches of the stage where visibility is going to be limited to no more than five or six metres ahead so I will have to have my wits about me."
gcaygill@thenational.ae
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013