Dubai's Trenker on course to clinch championship at the weekend

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."