DAKAR BOLIVIA 2014 .

[GregMember]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H1F1kDfLJ0

Grabbo in the factory team

Cyril on a Yamaha

Bring it on :woohoo:

TB

[Nick JacksonMember]

More Dakar goodness!!!

http://youtu.be/VXoUKr2IDxY

Nick

[Harold WithingtonMember]

sweet

[GregMember]

Want to know what a 450 sounds like being screwed :whistle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW6QIkPYZXA&feature=youtu.be

TB

[Dwayne OMember]

All the Aussies go to South America with our best wishes for the event I`m sure

I know the Newy local Troy O Connor has been putting in some extra effort in training and competing in some extra races, he just needs to stay on the bike this year, He is first to admit he is prone to a lay down here & there :laugh: He had some good results and has finished well in his races this year
Having Mark Davidson (who assisted Troy & Ben with prep and bike access in last years leadup) there competing this year will be good for the boys too…

Benny, well Benny is on a roll after last years amazing result first hit and can only improve on that now he is bike fit again :woohoo:

I will be watching closely daily , as usual and wish all the very best of luck

GO BOYS GO

[Dwayne OMember]

I see that our old mate “The Bear” is in South America on a support team and having a great time in the lead up to the start tomorrow.
He is regularly posting on the Trailzone facebook page and was even seen wearing an Adventure Moto T-Shirt :laugh:

Grabbo`s factory backed 450 looks the goods and al the Aussie entrants are in high spirits and ready to rip

Bring it on I say !!!!

[GregMember]

Grabbo out of the box fast with the locals, Coma and Depres

11th (29) 032 – GRABHAM BEN (AUS) 450 RALLY REPLICA 10:57:00 (29) +00:00:38 (11) +00:04:50

Grabham +4’50 and Deiner +21’00” and Troy O’Conner is only just behind Deiner at +21’30”

KTM’s take on their bikes for the day below

COMA FINISHES CLOSE SECOND IN DAKAR ST. 1
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05.01.2014 /
Red Bull KTM Factory rider Marc Coma launched his bid for a fourth Dakar Rally title when riders set out on Stage One of the world’s toughest rally on Sunday. At the end of a long day Coma finished second to Joan Barreda of Spain just 37 seconds behind the leader.

Coma said he took things relatively easy on Day One, saying: “It was not easy with just a special of 180 km and on the first day of the Dakar you don’t yet really have the right feeling. But I am happy for what we managed today. I took things fairly easy but the race is long and this is just the beginning.”
All four of Coma’s KTM factory teammates were within six minutes of the leader. Chaleco Lopez of Chile was well placed at sixth fastest, trailing only by 3 minutes 24 seconds. Ruben Faria finished eleventh fastest at 5 minutes 11 and Jordi Villadoms was thirteenth at just under six minutes. Riders are competing on the brand new KTM 450 Rally bike.
Lopez was also satisfied with his ride on the opening day saying it was “‘very technical”. “I’m very happy but it was a long first day with an early start. But I didn’t have any crashes and I have a good feeling for the new motorcycle.”
Faria too came away satisfied with Day One: “Today was just a small special but a long liaison. The special was not so easy. There were a lot of turns, left and right and up and down but the bike is great and everything went well.”

At eleventh place KTM Australia’s Ben Grabham was the fastest of the three official KTM-supported riders, trailing the lead time by just 4:50. Kuba Przygonski of Poland came in at twentieth at 8:23 and South African Riaan van Niekerk finished twenty-seventh at 11:14.
KTM Team Manager Alex Doringer was a contented man at the end of Day One. “I’m very happy with the performance of the riders and the bike. Marc and Chaleco were perfect today and Villadoms and Ruben took it easy and used the stage to settle in to get a good feeling. Grabham did a fantastic ride and Jakub and Riaan both finished the day smiling. they are sure then can improve as the rally goes on.” While riders had a total of 809 km starting at Rosario, Argentina and finishing at San Luis, it was just 180 km in the middle of the stretch was timed special. The timed special sent riders over narrow tracks with challenging stony sections and blind jumps that called upon good concentration and ended in a climb up to 2400 m. The first 20 all finished within 10 minutes of the day’s fastest time, however they all face a bigger challenge in Monday’s Stage Two. They face another long ride of 724 km from San Luis to San Rafael, including 359 km of timed special. Organizers promise that the first part of Monday’s special stage will be the fastest of the 2014 rally. Then for the last 100 km riders go straight into the grey dunes of Nihuil and will challenge even the most experienced rider and force them to draw on all their technical skills.


Dakar Results


Stage 1: Rosario to San Luis – 629 km liaison, 180 km special = 809 km
Unofficial after first 40 riders
1, Joan Barreda, Spain, Honda, 2 hours 25:31
2, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM at 37 seconds
3, Cyril Despres, France, Yamaha at 1:40
4, Alain Duclos, France, Sherco at 1:56
5, Paolo Goncalves Portugal, Honda at 2:25
6, Chaleco Lopez, Chile, KTM at 3:24
7, Joan Pedrero, Spain, Sherco, 3:47
8, Michael Metge, France, Yamaha, 4:33
9, Sam Sunderland, UK, Honda, at 4.33
10, Alessandro Botturi, Italy Speedbrain 4:48
Other KTM
11, Ben Grabham, Australia, KTM 4:50
12, Ruben Faria, Portugal, KTM at 5:11
13, David Casteu, France, KTM at 5:32
14, Jordi Villadoms, Spain, KTM at 5:51
17, Stefan Svitko, Slovakia, KTM at 6:57
20, Kuba Przygonski, Poland, KTM at 8:23
26, Ivan Jakes, Slovakia, KTM at 10:42
27, Riaan van Niekerk, South Africa, KTM at 11:14

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x199l1a_us-stage-1-inside-dakar-2014-dakar-in-words_auto

TB

[Geoff ForshawMember]

Great stuff and ride safe!!

[GregMember]

HRC press release

Joan Barreda rides his Honda CRF450 RALLY to victory in the Rally Dakar after 25 years

Honda had proved its strength last October with the new CRF450 RALLY, winning both the Morocco Rally and the Merzouga Rally. Thus, the team has taken command of the first stage of the 2014 edition, after 25 years of absence.

It was back on 11th January 1989 when the official Honda HRC savoured victory for the last time. That was when Gilles Lalay took the fifteenth stage of the Paris-Tunisia-Dakar. Now, in the second year back in the event after a 24 year official absence, Joan Barreda has picked up a crucial first stage win on the CRF450 RALLY. After 25 years, Honda are back in the running.

It was a very early start for the Rally Dakar. The pack of riders headed off at four in the morning on a long 405 kilometre liasion that took them towards the vibrant city of Rosario for the start of the 180 km special.

Joan Barreda on the Honda CRF450 RALLY, got off to a storming start in the special, clocking up the fastest time of all the 175 riders at the first time-check, in this, the 2014 edition of the legendary Dakar. He would repeat the same feat at the end of the stage. Team-mate Paulo Gonçalves also kept up a cracking pace, holding on to fifth place at the close.

Sam Sunderland’s Honda debut at the Dakar was productive, taking ninth position. Javier Pizzolito finished 19th and Helder Rodrigues in 22nd.

Joan Barreda 1st 2:25’31 TEAM HRC
It’s been a great day. I’m really pleased for the first win with Honda, especially for the team that has worked so hard the whole year to produce this new bike. I’m really happy to have begun the Dakar like this. Today was a tough one. Few kilometres, but with a very difficult track full of rocks and very slippery. I managed to get off really well in the second part, keep up a good pace and get a result in the end.

Paulo Goncalves 5th +02’25 TEAM HRC
It’s been a long day, over 800 kilometres and 11 hours on the bike with a very tricky special. Very technical, where I had a lot of difficulties with the bike sliding around a lot. In the second half I quickened the pace and the ride was much better. I’m very pleased for Joan’s victory, which is really good for us.

Sam Sunderland 8th +04’33 TEAM HRC
We’ve finished the first day. A very long special that for us started when we had to get up at 3.00 a.m. More than 800 kilometres and a long liaison too. It was a really intense ride throughout the special. I made a minor error at the beginning and maybe because I changed the settings that punished the rear brake excessively. But in spite of everything, it hasn’t been that bad a stage.

Javier Pizzolito 19th +08’09 TEAM HRC
It has been a hard stage. Being the first stage, I’d have thought that it would be more simple. A very sinuous mountain stage, that was very physically demanding. The bike was very well behaved, so let’s see how we get on in tomorrow’s stage, which should be very different from today’s.

Helder Rodrigues 22th +08’58 TEAM HRC
Today was a very difficult one for me, especially being the first of the Dakar. It was very technical with a lot of bends and you had to be really careful how you handled it. I’m not very happy with the result, but I was able to finish the stage, and you can’t take any risks at the Dakar just for one stage.

[GregMember]

A blurb on Grabbo and his first day here

Day 1 wrap up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWASlj4lpFg

TB

[GregMember]

Grabbo 6th fastest on stage 2 (today) beat Coma and Depres. It is only early days but an outstanding result

That means he has moved up to 9th overall behind Depres :woohoo:

TB

[Geoff ForshawMember]

Yeah great stuff Grabbo :woohoo: ride safe and all the best. Go you good thing!!
It looks like those Hondas are an awesome machine with good riders and winning the first 2 stages. Early days though it is a long Rally and any thing can happen eh.

Cheers, Lefty

[Harold WithingtonMember]

Recon they could cut half the crap out on tv and chuck some decent coverage of Dakar on
That would be so cool

[GregMember]

:ohmy:

– KTM Australia Report (Ben Grabham)

Just a day after logging his best ever result in the famous Dakar Rally, Australian KTM ace Ben Grabham has tumbled down the order in the fallout to a simple navigation error on day three of the race, between San Rafael and San Juan, Argentina.

Grabham was poised to again eclipse his best result in the first hour of the competitive stage after speeding into an incredible third place at Checkpoint One, 57 kilometres in.

However two hours later Grabham and three others including yesterday’s winner Sam Sunderland followed one of the lead riders in the wrong direction, causing a domino effect that would result in Grabham entering tonight’s Marathon Stage bivouac in 73rd place provisionally.

“Myself, the two Honda guys Sam and Paulo, Juan Pedrero on the Sherco and Ruben Faria all went down the wrong mountain,” said Grabham. “In the first 20 meters we knew it was wrong but it was just way to steep to get back. We tried for about an hour but it was damaging the bike too much.”

Next, KTM Factory Team rider Faria crashed heavily and required airlifting, so the Aussie, Sunderland and Goncalves waited with him for the helicopter to arrive.

“Then to get out of where we were was quite a mission,” said Grabham, “all of us had to help each other lift our bikes down rock ledges and that took us a lot of time and energy.
“I’m not happy about it but there’s not much I can do about it.”

The day’s result sees Grabham drop to 33rd in overall motorcycle classification, and as he is away from his team in the Marathon Stage bivouac it is not yet known whether he and the other riders will be credited any time for their assistance of the injured Faria.

Tomorrow, Grabham must nurse his bike and tyres a further 550 kilometres, including 352 kilometres of special stage in order to complete the Marathon Stage.

Come on Grabbo, cool heads prevail. Head down arse up ride smart and fast.

TB

[GregMember]

http://www.yamaha-racing.com/Racing/dakar/news/newsdetail.jsp?Component=tcm:78-561986&PageTitle=Yamaha%20Riders%20Impress%20on%20First%20Dakar%20Marathon%20Stage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNNXvW1WRUg

TB

[Author]

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