DAKAR 2005

[avbi]

5. etapa (trenutno že na koncu)

Pos. Dos. Name Mark Time Variation Penalty

1 023 CALDECOTT KTM 4h 00' 09" 00' 00"

2 006 COMA KTM 4h 00' 12" 00' 03"

3 002 DESPRES KTM 4h 03' 39" 03' 30"

4 003 COX KTM 4h 06' 08" 05' 59"

5 007 ESTEVE PUJOL KTM 4h 06' 49" 06' 40"

6 004 MEONI KTM 4h 07' 53" 07' 44"

7 012 FRETIGNE YAMAHA 4h 10' 39" 10' 30"

8 022 BLAIS KTM 4h 13' 44" 13' 35"

9 008 DE GAVARDO KTM 4h 14' 39" 14' 30"

10 011 DABROWSKI KTM 4h 15' 14" 15' 05"

11 042 CASTEU KTM 4h 16' 25" 16' 16"

12 025 DE AZEVEDO KTM 4h 16' 43" 16' 34"

13 005 ULLEVALSETER KTM 4h 17' 20" 17' 11"

14 009 BRUCY KTM 4h 17' 45" 17' 36"

15 014 SALA KTM 4h 17' 46" 17' 37"

16 010 CZACHOR KTM 4h 19' 45" 19' 36"

17 130 GORRARA KTM 4h 25' 23" 25' 14"

18 017 HARDEN KTM 4h 26' 17" 26' 08"

19 026 DUCLOS KTM 4h 30' 13" 30' 04"

20 032 ALGAY KTM 4h 36' 42" 36' 33"

21 015 GRAZIANI KTM 4h 38' 19" 38' 10"

22 019 CHARBONNEL KTM 4h 42' 18" 42' 09"

[Noise]

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RALLY

Dakar 2005: 5th stage Agadir - Smara (04.01.2005)

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<b>Australian triumph and Spanish tears </b>

There she was, the first African stage. And she was quite cruel. One of the young Spanish matadors had to already give up today. Jordi Duran's dream of arriving in Dakar suddenly vanished in the Moroccan sand. Going high speed, Jordi happened to fall really hard off his bike just before CP 1. He broke his thigh and additionally has an open fracture in his forearm. Because of this, he was flown to a hospital in Agadir right away.

It is a sad moment for Jordi who had planned so much more. Also a great shock for his teammates Marc Coma, Isidre Esteve and Gio Sala. "It was a typical Moroccan stage", said Marc Coma later in the bivouac. "Stones everywhere. If you don't pay attention for one single moment, then this is it. I know exactly how Jordi must feel now. Last year I dropped out after falling badly as well. Not only am I really sorry for Jordi because he is my friend but also because he is a great teammate. He has always livened things up and always smiled. It is such a pity."

Coma himself did great on the rocky track. He came in second in today's ranking. Only 3 seconds faster than him was the Australian Andy Caldecott. Caldecott had been on a few top places in the previous year already. But today he was quite surprised of his success. "Actually, I drove very carefully due to the sharp stones. Additionally, there was an instruction in the road book every couple of meters, therefore one needed to be very concentrated. That's why I really didn't expect this result." Andy Caldecott had to give up the race after falling down and breaking his ankle a year ago in Atar. This year he definitely wants to reach Dakar. "That's my first priority. And if everything goes well, I would like to be under the top 5."

Alfie Cox was just as satisfied with his race as Andy Caldecott today. Coming in almost six minutes behind Caldecott he ranks 4th place. But: Everything still went well. My shoulder doesn't hurt anymore which was most important on this first real stage. I also had to slow down 40 km before the finish line. The mousse in the back wheel was damaged."

Scott Harden was fighting against the material- consuming- course, too. 160 km before the finish he had a stone flying into his back break disc. Thus, he couldn't use the break anymore. "That obviously was a huge drawback", as claimed by the American team manager. "I wasn't able to risk anything anymore and I lost almost half an hour."

Although he came in third, Cyril Despres walked through the bivouac really unsatisfied. His two trip masters played a trick on him and indicated different data which didn't quite facilitate the orientation on this rather fast track. And then he felt he was put at a disadvantage by the organizers. Claudia Patuzzi, team manager, explains: "Cyril claims to have been at the CP 2 one minute before Marc Coma and to have gotten gas just as everyone else. But the commissioners supposedly put him back on track together with Marc. We will now check this on the basis of the course records."

Nevertheless, due to his fast speed Marc Coma took over the lead in the overall standing today. On the following places are Andy Caldecott (+ 0´43) and Cyril Despres (+2´45).

[Noise]

Nekaj zanimivosti:

- Fretigne je pred današnjo etapo odklopil 2WD na svoji Yamahi; navigacijska napaka ga je stala prvega mesta in je tako po prvi pravi etapi na sedme mestu v skupni razvrstitvi

- Despres je danes privozil tretje mesto kljub nedelovanju svojega tripmastra (care)

- današnji zmagovalec, avstralec Caldecott, je 381km hitrostno preizkušnjo prevozil v štirih urah -- s povprečno hitrostjo torej skoraj 100km/uro!

- prikoličar je sicer prišel v cilj, a je odstopil od nadaljnega tekmovanja; kar ni nič čudnega, glede na videno na El Chottu 2003 --- prikolica v sipinah ne gre nikamor, jutri pa je sipinska etapa...

[Noise]

Tole še iz dakar.com:

Caldecott puts Oz on top of Dakar scene

In the bike special between Agadir and Smara (380kms), Andy Caldecott won his first ever a stage on the Dakar rally. Meanwhile Marc Coma, second on the day, captured the overall lead. In the car special, Colin McRae clinched his second special on the rally to capture overall leadership. In a dramatic truck race, Tchaguine took advantage of Gerard de Rooy's crash to comfort his lead.

Year after year, the Telefonica Dakar rally gets more international and touches far away nations. A major nation on the sportingscene, Australia became a winning country on the Dakar scene again thanks to Andy Caldecott (KTM – n°23), 6 years after Andy Haydon grabbed two stages back in 98. The 40 year-old KTM rider had already impressed last year for his first appearance by earning himself an excellent third spot on the stage to Tan Tan but was forced to retire from the race in Atar while in 7th position overall.

Taking off the rally on a KTM 660cc in the KTM Team Australia alongside teammate David Schwartz, Caldecott insisted inBarcelona that his goal was "only to make it to Dakar". Well, he added a touch of triumph to his African quest on the tricky special to Smara in Southern Morocco. The Aussie clocked the best time at the first CP1 (km 111), before Marc Coma (KTM – n°6), his closest rival on the day, had the best times at the following two CPs (km184 and 290). The tall KTM rider eventually managed to beat the Spaniard by a tiny 3sec advantage on the finish line of the special. Third was Cyril Despres (KTM – n°2), who suffered trip master problems and finished over 3' adrift, ahead of team mate Alfie Cox (KTM – n°3) and Isidre Esteve (KTM – n°7).

While Australia will probably be celebrating Caldecott's glorious day, Spain and Catalunya who welcomed the rally just a few days ago will be going wild with Marc Coma becoming the new overall leader. The young KTM-Repsol official rider leads the rally with a 42" advantage on Caldecott and 2'42" on Despres. Meanwhile, former leader David Frétigné (YAM – n°12) suffered navigation problems after following the tracks of amateur tourist bikers. The Frenchman took a wrong direction for 4km and eventually finished the special over 10' behind the day's special. Fretigné is now 7th overall, at 9'34". A good day it was for Coma… a sad one for his compatriot Jordi Duran (KTM – n°16). The newcomer who had claimed a promising fourth spot in Granada crashed at km 100 and broke both his femur and his collar bone. Duran was forced to withdraw from the race.

On extremely rocky tracks, the car special was just as spectacular with maximum speeds close to 190-200km/h for the favourites. And when it comes to fast stages, Colin McRae has become a Dakar specialist. Already a winner in Granada, two days ago, and in Ayoun El Atrous and Dakar a year ago, the British driver flew to stage 4 success with an impressive 6'15" advantage on his teammate Giniel De Villiers (NIS – n°314) and 7'18" on Jutta Kleinschmidt (VW – n°310). By doing so, the 95 WRC World champion moved back to the overall leadership he had left after yesterday's special. This time, however, the Scot has a rather interesting 5'28" advance on De Villiers.

Fourth on the day, Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah (BMW – n°318) kept hope alive for BMW after a rather calm start to the rally. Finishing over 7' adrift, Al Attiyah who finished 10th of last year's edition, proved to the German brand and his rivals that he would be one to keep an eye on. On the other hand, it was a dreadful day for the Mitsubishi clan. Except for Luc Alphand (MIT - n°312) who finished in 5th position, the two other leaders of the Japanese team suffered serious technical hiccups. Title holder Stephane Peterhansel (MIT – n°306) had to settle with a 24' deficit on McRae due to numerous punctures. Meanwhile, and in a far worst position, Hiroshi Masuoka (MIT – n°309) was struggling with severe transmission problems and finished the stage over 3 hours adrift.

The truck race proved that it's never 'over until it's over'… All the way to CP3 (km 280), Gerard De Rooy (DAF – n°516) was flying to a probable stage success with a 14'51" lead on his father Jan (DAF – n°521) and over 17' on Tchaguine (KAM – n°515). But it all went wrong at km 310 when the young Dutch driver went for a tumble, leaving his DAF truck on its side. At the beginning of the rally, De Rooy insisted on the fact that "you never have enough experience". Indeed he was right, as he was forced to wait for the help of his assistance truck. Meanwhile, Tchaguine was gently heading for his second victory in two days, eventually beating De Azevedo (TAT – n°518) by 1'46" and multiple Dakar winner Karel Loprais (TAT – n°519) by over 4'. The Russian Kamaz driver now has a 6'17" overall lead on teammate Firdaus Kabirov (KAM – n°520).

[Noise]

Jutrišnja etapa: pesek, pesek, pesek!!! yes yes yes, here we goooo!!! 120km transferja in nato 492 kilometrov sipin. Fantastika...

Drivers skilled at dune crossing and navigating will here be in their element. But for the 40 % of new entrants in the motorcycle category, it is in arriving in Mauritania that the real Dakar experience will begin.

After 100 km of track liaison to the Mauritanian border, competitors will start the Special with a very fast section on sandy ground.

This will be followed by mainly speedy stretches punctuated by spaced out dune fields, as far as 1 km apart.

Assistance vehicle will take the spécial route on 100 km.

----

Tomorrow there will be a very difficult and also long course of 492 km waiting for the drivers. Zouerat, Mauritania, is the destination. Whoever loves dunes and knows how to navigate quite well will love that challenge. The others could be loosing a lot of time within the dunes.

PS: komentator na eurosportu predvideva le peščico finišerjev do programa ob 22:30 :o :kva2:

[bLuZoNdEr]

PS: komentator na eurosportu predvideva le peščico finišerjev do programa ob 22:30 :o  :kva2:

←

Če sem pa jaz prav zastopil je komentator povedal da tekmovalci naj ne pričakujejo spremljevalnih ekip v taboru pred 22h ker naj bi jutri večji del proge spremljevalci prevozili po isti poti kot tekmovalci....le da veliko počasneje seveda in zato toliko kasneje :hmm:

Kot zanimivost mogoče še kakšne orientacijske težave je imel Fretigne: sledil je motoristom.....a žal so bili to zgolj turisti in šele po 4km vožnje v napačno smerje uvidel svojo napako; zanima pa me čemu je odklopil 2WD ?

[Noise]

Če sem pa jaz prav zastopil je komentator povedal da tekmovalci naj ne pričakujejo spremljevalnih ekip v taboru pred 22h ker naj bi jutri večji del proge spremljevalci prevozili po isti poti kot tekmovalci....le da veliko počasneje seveda in zato toliko kasneje  :hmm:

Kot zanimivost mogoče še kakšne orientacijske težave je imel Fretigne: sledil je motoristom.....a žal so bili to zgolj turisti in šele po 4km vožnje v napačno smerje uvidel svojo napako; zanima pa me čemu je odklopil 2WD ?

Komentator je rekel za oboje... kao da pričakujejo v taboru le najhitrejše... En del bo za vse tekmovalce in orgo popolnoma nov, kar pomeni,da bo spet zanimivo... muhuhahhaha...

2WD je menda odklopil zato, ker brez 2WD motor bolj leti (beri: prednji pogon mu pobere delček moči). Druga varianta o kateri se govori po kuloarjih pa je ta, da 2WD "špara" da se ne bi pokvaril do peska...

[marem]

Včeraj gledal na eurosportu report in videl tole:

Dva "dobrovoljčka", definitivno zanimovo.

motor s prikolico

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Žal ne bosta nadaljevalja, sicer mi je zanimivo, da sta sploh prišla, glede na to da sta (najbrž) vedela, da ne moreta končati. Vsekakor pa mi sede nekaj malo izven-serijskega......če so mi že 950-ke ukinl <_<

[Noise]

Žal ne bosta nadaljevalja, sicer mi je zanimivo, da sta sploh prišla, glede na to da sta (najbrž) vedela, da ne moreta končati. Vsekakor pa mi sede nekaj malo izven-serijskega......če so mi že 950-ke ukinl  <_<

:D

Je pa tale prikoličar itak brezveze iz vidika tekme. Po pesku na Chottu 2003 nista prišla do konca nobene etape, pri nekaterih sta se samo pojavila na štartu in se odpeljala nazaj v kemp. Halo? Men se zdi to malo mim, sicer pa, vsak ima svoje veselje... jaz verjetno še do tja, kamor sta onadva prišla, ne bi privozil :fredy:

[marem]

Noise pozabil si: Tebe in tvojo mrcino niti ne bi pustili na Dakar.....ampak mi2 ne moreva vplivat na njihove odločitve

[GUMY]

Gerard Barbezant je tudi letos na Dakarju s svojim KTM 125!! In kaj je to takega? Dečko je letnik 1946!

[JAZBEC]

Dečko je letnik 1946!

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..

..

..a je to mogoče 1964...al je res 1946!!!....kokr da b vidu mojga tastarga tam...pa to nis verjet...če to tastar vidi ode mi z motorom u šume...jao meni-ops motoru.. :(

[avbi]

Meoni zmagovalec etape. :yea2: :yea2: :yea2:

1 004 MEONI KTM 4h 37' 14" 00' 00"

2 005 ULLEVALSETER KTM 4h 38' 52" 01' 38"

3 003 COX KTM 4h 40' 12" 02' 58"

4 002 DESPRES KTM 4h 41' 51" 04' 37"

5 006 COMA KTM 4h 44' 11" 06' 57"

6 023 CALDECOTT KTM 4h 46' 04" 08' 50"

7 007 ESTEVE PUJOL KTM 4h 46' 15" 09' 01"

8 012 FRETIGNE YAMAHA 4h 47' 17" 10' 03"

[GUMY]

..

..

..a je to mogoče 1964...al je res 1946!!!....kokr da b vidu mojga tastarga tam...pa to nis verjet...če to tastar vidi ode mi z motorom u šume...jao meni-ops motoru.. :(

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Ja, res je 1946!! Večkratni evropski enduro prvak v '70. letih. vsako leto pogledam, če še vztraja. In tip tudi pride do cilja, čeprav bolj zadaj. Pa ne pozabi, da ima 125ccm dvotaktni stroj, kar je groza za v sipine, kjer rabiš veliko navora.

[bLuZoNdEr]

Komentator je rekel za oboje... kao da pričakujejo v taboru le najhitrejše...

←

predviden urnik 6 etape

...torej do 22h nimajo kaj počet...

in pa še....:

14:34 Cars – Gordon crashes

Robby Gordon (VW – n°317) suffered a serious crash after CP1 (10kms before CP2). The US driver and his co-driver appear to be OK and are trying to put the car back on its wheels.

13:53 Bikes – Grezes retires from race

At km 44, Frenchman Yannick Grezes (BMW – n°85) was forced to retire from the rally with a broken back suspension on his bike.

13:27 Cars – Wheel worries for Peter

Just before the start of the day's special, Stephane Peterhansel (MIT – n°306) hit a rock and damaged his right rear wheel. He stopped to repair taking one of Nani Roma's spare wheels. The Frenchman was able to start the special in due time.

13:26 Bikes – Caldecott in trouble

At km 340, Andy Caldecott (KTM – n°23) was still expected far far behind the bike leaders. Race leader Coma was still leading ahead of Despres and Meoni. The best bikers were seen at speeds close to 180km/h. :yea2:

23h30 – 3 hours lost and 4 to repair for Masuoka

The whole Mitsubishi assistance team did all they could for Hiroshi Masuoka to have a brand new car for the start of the Smara-Zouerat stage. The Japanese driver indeed lost around three hours due to a mechanical problem and finally made it to the bivouac at 19h30 in a damaged vehicle. It was time for the mechanics to change the front transmission. It took 4 hours to repair, thanks to the help of the mechanics who usually work on the other official cars.

2h10 – A Kamaz crashes

After a series of changes on the Kamaz truck of Ilzigar Mardeev, a truck member and a mechanic took the vehicle on a test run outside the bivouac. The two team members hit a pavement before losing control of the truck and crashing on its side. Both were seriously injured and taken to a close by hospital. The truck was totally wrecked and Mardeev forced to retire from the race.

:(

3h00 – The absent

213 bikes made it to the bivouac. Miguel Agullo Gonzalez, Franck Weissner and Robert Knecht were still expected. 149 cars had also made it, 10 were still expected. 65 trucks were also in the bivouac.

Skratka se že na polno dogaja :kva2: :kva2: :yea2:

[bLuZoNdEr]

15:18 Cars – McRae crashes

At km 410, Colin McRae (NIS – n°308) suffered a serious crash. The Nissan went for a flip and was left on its side. Both driver and co-driver are fine and are hoping to repair the car. :kva2: :kva2: :kva2: SHIT :(

15:01 Bikes – Griffiths quits

At km 311, UK's John Griffiths (HON – n°193) suffered a crash and was forced to retire from the race with a broken wrist.

14:59 Cars – Gordon working on the car

After crashing his Volkswagen Race Touareg, Robby Gordon (n°317) was seen repairing his vehicle. It appears he has front break and gear box worries and is awaiting an assistance car. Meanwhile Giniel De Villiers (NIS – n°314) suffered a puncture at km 360.

Popravljeno Januar 5, 2005. Popravil bLuZoNdEr

[bLuZoNdEr]

IriTrack

Zelo zanimiva zadevca (probajte vnesti tekmovalce 308, 5, 10, 16 in opazujte kako so vozili 5 etapo) :OK:

[bLuZoNdEr]

...Meoni territory

For the first dunes of the Telefonica Dakar 2005, Fabrizio Meoni he was still well in form by clinching the best time of the 492km special. Meanwhile his KTM-Gauloises team mate Cyril Despres captured the overall leadership.

In the car special, Colin McRae was force to retire from the race after crashing his Nissan. Peterhansel claimed the special ahead of Bruno Saby who takes command of the overall. :( :BUA:

Experience proved to be key on the day's difficult stage 6 where the riders had a long awaited appointment with the dunes of Mauritania. Until check point 1 (km 245) everything was going rather well for the less experienced. On a fast track, Marc Coma who left in second spot this morning proved to be the fastest ahead of Andy Caldecott, winner of the previous special. No worries at that point of the race for the fast and furious KTM bikers… But things became a lot tougher with the first dune portions and soft sand: in other words, Meoni territory :yea2: :yea1: . The Italian made the best of his huge Dakar experience moving closer to Coma (second at only 18") at CP2 (km 312) and then grabbing the best time at CP3 (km 421) and on the finish line ahead of Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM – n°5). The two-time rally winner claimed the stage with a 1'38" on the Norwegian biker and team mate Alfie Cox (KTM – n°3). Cyril Despres finished fourth which gives him the overall leadership with a 35" advantage on Marc Coma and 1'16" on Fabrizio Meoni. Meanwhile, Caldecott, like many others, suffered navigation worries in the dunes. The Australian ended the special close to 9min adrift in 7th position.

Po tihem navijam za Caldecott-a, mi je že lani bil blazno simpatičen letos pa je samo še dokazal da je iz pravega testa, tut Ullevalseter nej švoh; drugače pa Meoni, Cox, Despres,..., :yea2:

DANES BO VELIKO ZA VIDET NA EUROSPORTU :OK: :OK: (se že kar treesem :kva2: )

Popravljeno Januar 5, 2005. Popravil bLuZoNdEr

[Noise]

Danes je bila res zanimiva zanimiva etapa.

"Modra dirkača" (gas do dile ne barva avta press) McRae in Gordon sta out. TEMPO, TEMPO, TEMPO.

Slednjega se zaveda predvsem legenda Meoni. Jutri pričakujem podobno predstavo, kot danes...

PS: Je pa ob devetih zvečer popolnoma pogorel servisni šotor organizatorja. :kva2:

Še KTM-ov komentar:

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RALLY

Dakar 2005: 6th stage Smara - Zouerat (05.01.2005)

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9:00 p.m.

It came like a real whopper for all the participants of the Dakar in the evening: The service tent of the bivouac burned down completely. Thank god no one was hurt. How high the damage is and what effects this has on the ongoing Dakar is still unknown.

Day of the cunning old desert devils

There were two words that were heard everywhere in the bivouac in Zouerat today: fucking wind. The strong wind on the course was quite difficult for the drivers. Whenever a driver left prints in the sand, they were gone within seconds. "From time to time one wasn't able to see a thing", said Chris Blais. The young American who has never driven in Africa before, has drawn the right conclusions for himself. "The course was really fast and my bike worked wonders. But now and then I wasn't sure which track to chose. Thus, I let the number 11 (Marek Dabrowski, KTM -edit. comment) pass and followed him afterwards. That's how I learn best. And I am satisfied with my ride today." Chris Blais came in 10th and lost 17 minutes on the winner of the day. A respectable result.

This first Mauritanian stage has definitely mixed up the rankings. It was the first long stage through endless fields of dunes. The wind didn't facilitate this task. Those, who know the Mauritanian desert like the back of their hand were able to deal with the challenge best. Today, no one was faster than Fabrizio Meoni. Whoever thought the 47-year-old was going on this Dakar to only take part in it, was wrong. Fabrizio showed off his skills. "For me, it was a test today to see whether my brain still functions. Whether I can go fast and at the same time be able to navigate. I am quite satisfied. I could have been even faster. But 80 km before the finish my mousse broke at the back tire and it started this rolling motion in the rim. That's why I had to reduce speed. But other then that it went well.

Alfie Cox (today 3rd place) and Cyril Despres (4th) were satisfied with their race and navigation skills, too. By contrast did Jean Brucy (12th) and Carlo de Gavardo (15th) have bad luck. Carlo almost lost half an hour on Meoni. He fell and overturned his bike during the stage. His ride went on a little slower. At the moment, Carlo is limping through the bivouac but wants to be in the race tomorrow again. Jean had his bad luck already on the liaison at the start. "Yes, this stage today was longer for me than for the others. My front break stopped working 15 km into the stage. I turned around and went back to the bivouac to wake my mechanics. Marc fixed it and I went back to the start. Unfortunately, I was three minutes late at the start." Jean is now waiting for whatever penalty the organizers will impose.

Cyril Despres took over the lead in the overall ranking, followed by Marc Coma (+0´35) and Fabrizio Meoni (+1´16).

During this 27th Dakar, we also want to spend some time looking at the men and women again, who go on the toughest rally of the desert and are the real heroes often wrongfully forgotten:

The secret heroes

He is an impressive guy, Kevin Heath. Born in South-Africa, he was later drawn to California, U.S.A.. Building electronic go-karts he managed to pay for his living. With his earnings he tries to get over his creative crisis. The 46-year-old giant blinks an eye and says: "I have my midlife crisis. In this difficult period of life some buy their selves a Porsche to impress young women. Others are looking for a challenge in order to proof something to their selves. I am one of them." Kevin Heath wanted three of his dreams to come true: participating in the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE), in the Baja 500 and 1000 and in the Dakar.

ISDE and Baja he has already done. Now he is at his biggest dream, the Dakar. Heath is going on this rally with a KTM, supported by the KTM Costumer Service. But the man with the starting number 118 is not only a pilot. As many others, Heath likes to screw onto his motorcycle at night in the camp so that his bike is ready for the next day. "I need this challenge. But it would be too difficult without any help. That's why I decided to work with the KTM Costumer Service", claims Heath.

His goal is to reach Dakar. Which place? Doesn't matter as much as simply arriving. And when he crosses the podium at Lac Rose, then, his third wish has come true as well.

Whether his midlife crisis is over then? The answers might be found on www.kevinsmidlifecrisis.com .

>From the beginning on, there was one problem that took a lot of energy out of the private divers: the batteries.

There is another statement of the KTM team management about that:

"The batteries of several private riders have been discharging during the motorcycle downtime. An immediate check of KTM on the spot has resulted in the conclusion that all power supply components, as well as the security devices which have been newly specified by the organiser, have no negative influence on the batteries. Due to the fact that models of the last three years of manufacturing seem to be affected, the reason of these problems comes primarily from individual installation issues.

Irrespective of fact finding, the point is now to help the private riders. KTM assists all competing pilots to the highest possible extent with spare parts and batteries from the factory teams. The two "KTM Racing Trucks" are integrated in the assistance and may support private riders also during the stages.

Moreover, additional replacement batteries have been delivered by airplane two days ago. Onboard the plane was an electronic engineer of KTM, who has been and will be assisting the riders in correcting the problem."

[Noise]

Tomorrow, there will be the first part of a difficult marathon stage waiting for the drivers. 660 km will count for the ranking - the longest special of the rally! Big parts of the course are new to the old hands as well. Additionally, the start will be in a line up of 20 drivers at a time. The stage of tomorrow has it all: the difficult pass El Ghallaoiya surrounded by rock formations, far reaching dunes, many little ergs, tricky camel grass and at the end only a small possible path into the oasis of Tichit. There is no service allowed in the bivouac. The drivers have to take care of the bikes alone.

[simonsi]

Za današnjo etapo je komentator neki govoru, da so se prikoličarji(sidecar) presentljivo dobr obnesli na sipinah, ker je sovoznik s prestavljanjem svoje teže fajn pripomogu k lažjim premagovanjem sipin :hmm:

[bLuZoNdEr]

PS: Je pa ob devetih zvečer popolnoma pogorel servisni šotor organizatorja. 

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No zdej ne vem če se kuhinja šteje pod "servisni" šotor (lahko bi se, sej je želodčke tut treba poservisirat :D ), ker na uradni strani piše da je kuhinja zagorela zaradi explozije neonske luči :oops:

.....:

20:58 Fire under control

A fire started in the kitchens of the Dakar bivouac due to the explosion of a neon light. It was rapidly put under control by the organisation and local authorities. No harm or injuries were sustained.

[marem]

Meoni ima spet podobne težave kot lani, spet se mu pregreva moose(tista masa v gumi,, nevem če je prav napisano) a tokrat je šparal (vozil tudi 30 km/h da ga shladi) in se pustil prehitevati pa vseeno zmagal z minuto+. CAR!

Zame sta on in Cox glavna puščavnika.

[Noise]

Meoni ima spet podobne težave kot lani, spet se mu pregreva moose(tista masa v gumi,, nevem če je prav napisano) a tokrat je šparal (vozil tudi 30 km/h da ga shladi) in se pustil prehitevati pa vseeno zmagal z minuto+. CAR!

Zame sta on in Cox glavna puščavnika.

Indeed. Me pa malo čudi, zakaj ima težave z mousseom tudi letos, ko je na 660... pri 950 je bilo jasno - teža in moč, za 660 pa :eek: Dobro, malo tudi odvisno od izbire pnevmatik, sam vseeno... He's da man!! :photo: B)

[marem]

Eno vprašanje: včeraj poslušal intervju z Meonijem in je razlagal da si je izbral soft compound gume (ta del mi je jasen) potem pa razlaga da je morda imel v gumah premalo pritiska (?). Tu se mi malo zamegli: a se poleg moussa notr daje tud zrak, la maš samo različne gostote/trdote moussa?