Spoiler Alert 2014 Dakar

[Guest Crusty]

Looking good for 2013 Rally Champion Team Honda getting off to a great start.

1-3rd. and 7th after 2 stages

http://gaps.dakar.co...02/aso/ukie.php

13:08 Bikes: Provisional finish: Sunderland is quickest!

The British biker has proved to be the quickest over the 359 km of the bike special stage, with a time of 3:42'10', 39 seconds ahead of Francisco 'Chaleco' Lopez. He also finished 2 minutes in front of general standings leader Joan Barreda Bort

[Guest Crusty]

13:13 Bikes: Duclos fourth in front of Coma and Despres

Once again, Alain Duclos has put in a fine performance with the fourth best provisional time, slightly less than 6 minutes behind the stage winner, whilst Marc Coma and Cyril Despres have both conceded more than 8 minutes to the day's victor. Fifth placed rider Paulo Gonçalves has finished 7'45' behind the quickest man

[Guest Crusty]

More here..http://www.teamhrc.c...c/news_archive/

Sam Sunderland gets the first victory in the Dakar. Barreda still on top of leader-board

After the win yesterday for Joan Barreda, today it was the turn of Sam Sunderland to take the stage victory. The British rider was a worthy winner of the Dakar’s second special, where the Honda CRF450 RALLY remains in top positions and where Joan Barreda continues to command the leader-board.

The second stage of the Rally Dakar brought the riders from San Luís to San Rafael, taking in a total of 354 km against the clock, and including a range of diverse terrain types; hard ground, rocks and even some 70 km of navigation through the challenging dunes of Nihuil.

What a stage victory it was for Sam Sunderland too! The British rider, who clocked up the stage’s fastest times, seemed particularly at ease, especially in the second half of the day, when he was able to prove his deft handling skills in the dunes. The result, his first victory in the Dakar, puts Sunderland up into third overall position.

Joan Barreda was first away today and in his usual style, put pedal to the metal, and completed an almost hitch-free stage to continue to widen the deficit over his rivals in the overall standings. Barreda managed to hit a cow which was blocking the way and the impact broke the roadbook, forcing him to use it manually. In spite of this Barreda powered on to consolidate his place at the head of the leader-board.

Paulo Gonçalves, determined to finish among the leaders, was running a fine stage until a problem with the gasoline’s vapor lock held him up and forced him back to an eight place finish. The Portuguese rider is now seventh in the overall standings.

Hélder Rodrigues finished in fifteenth place, and Javier Pizzolito, who fell in the dunes, was able to finish in twenty-first place.

After an excellent performance yesterday, the riders that Honda supports through Honda Brasil and Honda Argentina today saw positive results for Jean Azevedo, Laia Sanz and Cacha Rodríguez, all on the new Honda CRF450 RALLY. All of them were up in the first thirty places. De Azevedo is 23rd overall, Laia Sanz holds 26th place and Pablo Rodríguez is in 29th.

Sam Sunderland - 1st - 3:42'10 - TEAM HRC

I’m really happy. The bike was fantastic, it’s been a great day with a mixture of different terrains, speed and technical zones. We got to the dunes which I get on really well with. It wasn’t a really long stretch, but it went well. I crossed the river which was deeper than I had expected, which got a few laughs out of the folk. But I’m really pleased for my first Dakar victory and to continue Honda’s winning streak.

Joan Barreda - 3rd - +02'00 - TEAM HRC

I knew that it was going to be a day to be on the look-out for animals. When I was about 70 km away from the finish-line, with the big hazards out of the way and the navigation through the dunes completed, I crossed a river with low-visibility and came across a cow on the curve. I tried to avoid it, but it came running out and I ran into it. It wasn’t a great impact, but it broke the higher part of the navigation, and I had to work the roadbook manually. The first part was really speedy and I was opening a gap over the rivals. From kilometre 250 to 300 I had to stay really focused, which I’m very happy with.

Paulo Goncalves - 8th - +07'45 - TEAM HRC

It was a really hard day’s rally. I had a couple of issues with the gas in the dunes and I lost a bit of time. It could have been a better day, but what the heck... I managed to finish and that’s the most important thing. Tomorrow we start out from good positions so the fight will go on.

Javier Pizzolito - 21th - +21'22 - TEAM HRC

It was a beautiful stage, with a lot of kilometres and much dust. I went off with Hélder, and tried to push hard. I made a slight navigational error and I fell, which was worse for the bike than for me, as I’m fine. It could have gone better for me today, but considering I made it, I’m happy.

Classifications Stage 2

1 Sam Sunderland - 03:42'10 - ENG - HONDA - TEAM HRC

2 Chaleco López - +00'39 - CHI - KTM - KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

3 Joan Barreda - +02'00 - ESP - HONDA - TEAM HRC

4 Ruben Faria - +04'07 - POR - KTM - KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

5 Alain Duclos - +05'51 - FRA - SHERCO - Sherco Rally Factory

6 Ben Grabham - +07'15 - AUS - KTM - KTM AUS Rally Factory

7 David Casteu - +07'27 - FRA - KTM - Team Casteu

8 Paulo Goncalves - +07'45 - PRT - HONDA - TEAM HRC

9 Marc Coma - +08'23 - ESP - KTM - KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

10 Cyril Despres - +08'43 - FRA - YAMAHA - Yamaha Racing

General standings after Stage 2

1 Joan Barreda 06:09'41 - ESP - HONDA - TEAM HRC

2 Chaleco López +02'03 - CHI - KTM - KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

3 Sam Sunderland +02'33 - ENG - HONDA - TEAM HRC

4 Alain Duclos +05'47 - FRA - SHERCO - Sherco Rally Factory

5 Marc Coma +07'00 - ESP - KTM - KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

6 Ruben Faria +07'18 - POR - KTM - KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

7 Paulo Goncalves +08'10 - PRT - HONDA - TEAM HRC

8 Cyril Despres +08'23 - FRA - YAMAHA - Yamaha Racing

9 Ben Grabham +10'05 - AUS - KTM - KTM AUS Rally Factory

10 David Casteu +10'59 - FRA - KTM - Team Casteu

Event information

TOMORROW'S STAGE

Tuesday, January 7

Stage 3: San Rafael-San Juan

Liaison: 292 km

Special: 373 km

Total: 665 km

[robertaccio 408]

Thanks HRC, no spoiler alert needed its a news update!! Hazards are the same for all open course racing especially on bikes....the cow on the trail story rears its ugly head again, with an real impact but no serious consequence thankfully.

[hoss314 0]

It's a LONG race....no matter what "brand" bike you are riding.

Each day there are many kilometers that need to be ridden on the road that are not timed. Make it to the timed section and ride balls out.

Much more of an endurance race. I don't know about any of you, but I get much more tired when I have to ride a long length of highway before finally getting off road for a good time.

BTW...the "spoiler alerts" are on the Dakar website. There is a live feed...today's (stage 3) live feed http://gaps.dakar.com/2014/dakar/stage-03/aso/ukie.php

[robertaccio 408]

Its a long distance enduro, just like the closed course enduros we do you have specials and transfers, you can be early for a check just dont be late or lose points/time, but the even the transfers are on a tight time schedule and on some tough terrain to wear you down. Only difference is that the enduros we do are at about the longest 100 total miles per day.......top tier stuff like ISDE can be more per day. And 99% is marked.

inside that marked/ribboned 100 miles you may have 4 or more or less specials.

Those rally guys are on a tight time schedule over many hundreds of miles on those big rally bikes over ugly terrain with navigation priority 1 to meet the schedule, then they need to rip a special test at race pace while also navigating, then do this for many days and campout nights. Everyone I know who has done Dakar were all top tier moto racers, its more the mental fatigue that gets you, riding while physically tired is a tough one for balance and strength but you gotta stay mentally sharp over so many miles and issues to deal with. Lots of sleep dep training is required. This is a very hard event a real test of mind, body and machine. Its epic and very dangerous racing, and of course it is super cool!!.

[Guest Crusty]

Any color can win Supercross, because it's Supercross!

Red has taken the Baja 1000 17 years in a row and

now 3 days in a row in Dakar!!!!!!!!

Glad after 25 years they decided to compete!!

Honda's Joan Barreda wins the first leg of the first marathon stage. Third consecutive victory for the Honda CRF450 RALLY

Joan Barreda took victory in the third stage of the Rally Dakar 2014, and in doing so widens the deficit over his nearest rival to 13'04 minutes. This is the third straight win for Honda in three outings so far in the rally, and the second victory for the Spanish rider from Castellón, bringing his career track record at the Dakar up to seven.

[Guest Crusty]

Ya it's a long race, but HRC.a has won every stage of every rally they have entered since the intro of the New 450 Rally.

Ya I am impressed.

[Crawdaddy 96]

This is a very hard event a real test of mind, body and machine. Its epic and very dangerous racing, and of course it is super cool!!.

I can't wait to get home and watch the DVR every night even though I already know what's up from updates via free IPhone App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id487240329?mt=8

I'm the same way during the TdF bicycle race in July. Too bad the DAKAR doesn't have the same 4-5hr/day coverage that the TdF bicycle race features. And Sam Posse, narrator for NBC Sports, barely has a pulse.....wish they had a more energetic/entertaining commentator doing the show.....

Barreda is definitely kicking ass for Honda at the moment.......I don't really care who wins though I must it admit it would be cool to see Coma take the win in honor/memory of Caselli.......Looks like Despres is having no issues with the switch to Yamaha......THAT's pretty damn impressive........new team/mfg/bike and STILL right up top.........just shows what a top notch talent that guy is.......

My buddy from Oakhurst, Mike Gaynor, is crewing for team Freedom Racing. They've had some tough luck.......one bike literally burned up yesterday and another rider wiped out/blew out his knee......and I believe they had rear wheel/tire troubles today on a third bike.......at this rate the entire team/bikes will be depleted soon

[kato 53]

HRC.a has won every stage of every rally they have entered since the intro of the New 450 Rally.

u jinxed it

[Guest Crusty]

HRC.a has won every stage of every rally they have entered since the intro of the New 450 Rally.

u jinxed it

But it looks like they are still going to win today!!

Even with a loss, I would still be stoked with OUR Record so far.

[Guest Crusty]

1 hour ago Honda in the lead KTM. fading away.

Wife wants me off the keyboard, going to Disneyland

I will take some pics.

[hoss314 0]

Stage 4 rankings.......

1)Pedro Garcia

Sherco

2)Lopez Contardo

KTM

3)Coma

KTM

4)Israel Esquerre

Speedbrain

5)Pain

Yamaha

6)Barreda Bort

Honda

7)Goncalves

Honda

8)Jakes

KTM

9)Duclos

Sherco

10)Gouet

Honda

[Guest Crusty]

Is Honda still winning the race, they had a 13++ minute lead.

What is a Sherco?

3 Honda's in the top 10 That's a Victory

[robertaccio 408]

down to 10th place OA they are all on the same hour, 1-3 seperated by only 5 minutes. 1-5 all within the top 1/2 hour. Its still really close as usual.

[robertaccio 408]

HRC-"What is a Sherco?"

Accio- "look here"

www.sherco.com

http://www.dirtrider.com/features/first-ride-sherco-se300i-race/

of course the rally bike is a 450 which is now in the market as well.

[Crawdaddy 96]

Download it for free : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id487240329?mt=8

Top 6 overall after stage 4

In the motorcycle classification, three riders are separated by just over 5 minutes. Joan Barreda Bort is still in control with 3'10" to spare on Marc Coma. Francisco "Chaleco" López lies in third place, 5'12" back. There is a 20-minute chasm between the Chilean rider and the next competitors, Alain Duclos (+25'55"), who was a bit less fortunate today, Olivier Pain (+29'38") and Cyril Despres, who lost tons of time today and is 41'17" back, just ahead of David Casteu.

[Guest Crusty]

Like!

Joan Barreda retains leadership in spite of tough stage

Fourth stage of the Rally Dakar 2014 and a tricky day for the TEAM HRC riders who fought hard to finish in favourable positions ahead of tomorrow's stage. Above all for Joan Barreda, who was able to overcome some complicated setbacks to finish in sixth position, but retains the overall standings.

Joan Barreda continues at the head of the leader-board in the Rally Dakar 2014, albeit by a lesser margin after momentarily losing his way and conceding several minutes to his rivals before getting back onto the right route. The Spanish rider from Castellón continues to shine on the Honda CRF450 RALLY, registering another fine performance from the outset, that saw him crossing the Chilecito finish-line sixth on the day.

The fourth stage started with a two-hour delay due to the difficulties inflicted upon the riders in the grueling outing of the previous day. Many bikes had lost their way, struggling to find the correct route until late into the night. Today's second marathon leg to Chilecito, in the Argentine La Rioja region, similar to that of the previous day, was a mountainous affair with a lot of hard ground and rocks.

Paulo Gonçalves was able to claw back several places, after having got lost on the previous excursion, and thus being forced to start from a long way back in today's race. He finished in seventh position. Fellow Portuguese Hélder Rodrigues lost time to his opponents too, coming in ninth. Sam Sunderland suffered some problems during the liaison, where his engine stopped which forced him to drop out. The team is looking into what happened.

Laia Sanz, the female rider being supported by Honda on the pre-production version of the Honda CRF450 Rally, once again put in a fine performance today, with a repeat of yesterday's twenty-first position. Her team-mate from the Honda Argentina Rally Team, Pablo Rodriguez finished twenty-third.

Joan Barreda 6th +13'56 TEAM HRC

I was going well in the stage, until about 80 km from the end when I took a wrong turning after seeing a note at the river crossing. I'd spent a long time yesterday going over the roadbook which also indicated another way. I lost a lot of time. I went back to the same place, and then took the same wrong direction. I fell while I was trying to make up the lost time. But the good thing is that I've been able to salvage something out it... I lost a bit of time, but we continue to be ahead. Tomorrow is another day and we will try and rectify everything.

Classifications Stage 4

1 Joan Pedrero 05:29'13 ESP SHERCO Sherco Rally Factory

2 Chaleco López +00'29 CHI KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

3 Marc Coma +03'10 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

4 Jeremias Israel +06'30 CHL SPEEDBRAIN Team Speedbrain

5 Olivier Pain +07'01 FRA YAMAHA Yamaha Racing

6 Joan Barreda +13'56 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC

7 Paulo Goncalves +18'38 PRT HONDA TEAM HRC

8 Ivan Jakes +19'30 SLO KTM Nad Ress Adventure

9 Alain Duclos +23'10 FRA SHERCO Sherco Rally Factory

10 Daniel Gouet +24'38 CHI HONDA Tamarugal Honda Racing XC Rally Team

General standings after Stage 4

1 Joan Barreda 13:39'53 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC

2 Marc Coma +3'10 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

3 Chaleco López +5'12 CHI KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

4 Alain Duclos +25'25 FRA SHERCO Sherco Rally Factory

5 Olivier Pain +29'38 FRA YAMAHA Yamaha Racing

6 Cyril Despres +41'17 FRA YAMAHA Yamaha Racing

7 David Casteu +42'17 FRA KTM Team Casteu

8 Jeremias Israel +46'33 CHL SPEEDBRAIN Team Speedbrain

9 Jordi Viladoms +49'14 ESP GAS GAS Gas Gas JVO Team

10 Kuba Przygonski +54'52 POL KTM KTM Rally Factory

Event information

TOMORROW'S STAGE

Stage 5: Chilecito-Tucumán

Liaison: 384 km

Special: 527 km

Total: 911 km

[Crawdaddy 96]

Honda holding on, KTM pressing, Yamaha falling back.....many more stages to go

http://touch.dailymotion.com/video/x19einh_us-stage-4-car-bike-stage-summary-san-juan-chilecito_auto

[robertaccio 408]

The 450cc multi brand inclusive Rally formula at its best!!

HONDA, KTM, SHERCO, YAMAHA ,SPEEDBRAIN (BMW/HUSQVARNA base) and GAS GAS.

6 brands and even more divisions by teams, in the top ten, that makes for great racing grids and fan following.

General standings after Stage 4

1 Joan Barreda 13:39'53 ESP HONDA TEAM HRC

2 Marc Coma +3'10 ESP KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

3 Chaleco López +5'12 CHI KTM KTM Red Bull Rally Factory

4 Alain Duclos +25'25 FRA SHERCO Sherco Rally Factory

5 Olivier Pain +29'38 FRA YAMAHA Yamaha Racing

6 Cyril Despres +41'17 FRA YAMAHA Yamaha Racing

7 David Casteu +42'17 FRA KTM Team Casteu

8 Jeremias Israel +46'33 CHL SPEEDBRAIN Team Speedbrain

9 Jordi Viladoms +49'14 ESP GAS GAS Gas Gas JVO Team

10 Kuba Przygonski +54'52 POL KTM KTM Rally Factory

[kkug 146]

A change at the top !yeee!

[Crawdaddy 96]

A change at the top !yeee!

Download it for free : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id487240329?mt=8

Top 6 in the general standings after stage 5

Marc Coma is the day’s major winner and the new leader of the general standings, with a certain amount of comfort, since Joan Barreda Bort trails him by 41’10 and Francisco Lopez by 53’41". Almost one hour behind (58’58’’), Jordi Viladoms occupies fourth place. 58’58". He is followed by Alain Duclos, Olivier Pain, Kuba Przygonski and Cyril Despres, respectively 1:02’13", 1:12’22", 1:14’27"and 1h23’01" behind Coma.

[Guest Crusty]

It's a long race!!

We have time to make up ground.

We are still doing well on a new bike, getting lost and hitting a cow!

[hobiee 28]

TIME DIFF

1 Marc Coma 18:45:11

2 Joan Barreda Bort + 41:10 +

3 Francisco Lopez Contardo + 53:41 +

4 Jordi Viladoms + 58:58 +

5 Alain Duclos + 1:02:13 +

6 Olivier Pain + 1:12:22 +

7 Jakub Przygonski + 1:14:27 +

8 Cyril Despres + 1:23:01 +

9 Jeremias Israel Esquerre + 1:23:30 +

10 Stefan Svitko + 1:30:13 +

11 David Casteu + 1:52:41 +

12 Hélder Rodrigues + 1:58:18 +

13 Daniel Gouet + 2:06:54 +

14 Juan Pedrero Garcia + 2:10:44 +

15 Ivan Jakes + 2:12:26 +

16 Laia Sanz + 3:02:54 +

17 Riaan Van Niekerk + 3:10:57 +

18 Michael Metge + 3:16:03 +

19 Juan Carlos Salvatierra + 3:20:51 +

20 Nicolas Alberto Cardona Vagnoni + 3:30:06 +

21 Henk Knuiman + 3:33:53 +

22 David Pabiska + 3:52:18 +

23 Rob van Pelt + 4:38:17 +

24 Pedro Oliveira + 5:08:33 +

25 Pedro Bianchi + 5:09:46 +

26 Henricus Vogels + 5:15:31 +

27 Pablo Rodriguez + 5:16:43 +

28 Rodriguez Claudio + 5:22:07 +

29 Mario Patrao + 5:23:55 +

30 Javier Pizzolito + 5:25:36 +

31 Paolo Ceci + 5:26:53 +

32 Xavier De Soultrait + 5:39:18 +

33 Miran Stanovnik + 5:42:40 +

34 Hugo Payen + 5:44:58 +

35 Felipe Prohens + 5:46:55 +

36 Marc Guasch + 5:47:17 +

37 Daniel Oliveras Carreras + 5:57:53 +

38 Alberto Santiago Ontiveros + 6:06:42 +

39 Patricio Cabrera + 6:13:43 +

40 Txomin Arana Cobeaga + 6:17:34 +

41 Brett Cummings + 6:23:01 +

42 Cristian Naser Colombo + 6:25:04 +

43 Mart Meeru + 6:25:24 +

44 Diego Demelchori + 6:29:48 +

45 Mateo Moreno Kristiansen + 7:15:56 +

46 Demian Guiral + 7:17:52 +

47 Allan Roberts + 7:22:03 +

48 Troy O'Connor + 7:24:29 +

49 Francisco Errazuriz + 7:25:36 +

50 Serge Gounon + 7:26:45 +

51 Bruno Da Costa + 7:30:26 +

52 Marco Antonio Saldarriaga + 7:35:25 +

53 Francisco Arredondo + 7:47:31 +

54 Laurent Lazard + 7:58:14 +

55 Eduardo Heinrich + 8:01:36 +

56 Jan Bastiaan Nijen Twilhaar + 8:20:38 +

57 Juan Esteban Sarmiento + 8:31:54 +

58 Gabor Saghmeister + 8:57:59 +

59 Thierry Traccan + 9:03:19 +

60 Janos Desi + 9:25:15 +

61 Shane Diener + 9:53:59 +

62 Pedro Penate Munoz + 9:56:45 +

63 Eric Croquelois + 10:02:46 +

64 Carlos Gracida Garza + 12:11:05 +

65 Flavio Del Zotto + 13:51:55 +

66 Enrique Guzman Blanco + 14:35:17 +

67 Sebastian Alberto Urquia + 14:43:23 +

68 Boldbaatar Damdinkhorloo + 14:55:41 +

69 Marco Reinike + 15:36:04 +

70 Pablo Cid de la Paz + 16:26:03 +

71 Carlo Vellutino + 16:32:48 +

72 Richard de Groot + 17:02:42 +

73 Octavio Valle + 17:10:35 +

74 Sylvain Espinasse + 18:34:45 +

75 Bruno Bony + 19:25:40 +

[robertaccio 408]

the total of 13 stages makes this so epic. 1 day a hero the next a zero.