Tank biathlon 2014: Kazakhstan tank damages track in individual trail race

Tank Biathlon 2014 is taking place at Alabino military range near Moscow, Russia. It is participated by tank crews from 12 countries: Angola, Armenia, Belarus, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Serbia and Venezuela.

Kazakhstan is represented by four tank crews, one of their being the reserver crew. 

On August 4, the first day of the competition, Kazakhstan's crew finished the individual trail race with dented armour and damaged track. The race consisted of four loops, 7 km each. Besides driving the tank, the crew has to hit targets during the race. If a crew fails to hit the target, they have to drive an extra loop. If a tank grazes the track's fencing the crew gets a penalty of plus one minute to their overall time.

The Kazakhstani T-72B tank made a good start and maintained good speed during accents, descents and when crossing various barriers: water, minefields, sand and etc. But during one of the manoeuvres the Kazakh tank grazed the Angolan tank and had to continue with a badly damaged left wing armour and track. However, even in spite of the accident, the Kazakh crew won the stage thank to their skills. After the first day of the Tank Biathlon 2014 Kazakhstan was in the third place in the overall team standing. Russia was in the first place. 

The individual race is followed by sprint on August 7-8, pursuit race on August 11-12, a sport stage on August 14, and a relay race on August 16.

By Tatyana Kuzmina