Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on January 9, 2013 at 11:05pm

I hope Johnny know's some (me) hang on his every word.Going into today a little over 5m's seperated first thru tenth.
Today the top 10 is seperared by 22:44,yesterday that covered the top 46.
I am amazed at how many failed fuel pumps this DAKAR,btw,wtf?

Permalink Reply by Jaci on January 10, 2013 at 2:50pm

Chaleco wins Stage 6

Permalink Reply by will on January 10, 2013 at 9:59pm

Dakar Rally race report- Johnny Campbell:
Stages 4-6
Stage 4:
Nazca-Arequipa
Special 290Kms
Liaison 429kms
Total stage 719Kms
Well Howdy everyone! Sorry I have been out of touch the last 3 days as text
service and email is poor in these parts. I hardly remember one stage to
the next as we are burning up calories and the miles like crazy.

Stage 4:
All I really remember from stage 4 is that we had silt-dunes and beach and
it was a long ass ride. We did have an amazing dune section that dropped of
a sand mountain about 3000' to a rocky wash. It was possibly the gnarliest
thing I have ever experienced next to jumping down the Iquique Dune with
Robby G. At the bottom was rocks and I stopped to help a downed rider. He
was fine but didn't remember me picking him up at the end of the stage!
I had a good get off as well toward the end of that stage, bruising my ribs
but thanks to my awesome Fly Racing chest protector I didn't break
anything. I think I finished like 38th or something disappointing like
that. But I had an amazing time riding incredible terrain. The 400 plus
liaison was long and tiring and scary too! We ran along the Pacific Ocean
with a 1000' drop for miles.

Stage 5:
Hmmm let's see.... Oh yeah we started late and had a short stage from
Arequipa to finally crossing the border to Arica, Chile. Thankfully we had
a late 8am start and a short 136K stage followed by a 275K liaison. This
stage I actually started to feel more like my old self, with some more Baja
style terrain. Posted my best finish to date , 25th for the day.

Stage 6:
Today, went from Arica to Calama. It started with a very early 5am start on
a 400Km liaison- that's 4 hours of Highway riding just to get to the start
line! Yikes! The special was broken into to tests with a another 100km
liaison between. The first part was dunes more dunes and finished with a
fun fast twisty road with berms on the sides. I chased dust seemed like the
whole time, just praying for the wind to be in my favor. The second 110k
portion started with a fast silt run that I could careless if I ever ride
that area again. The last half was really fun, catching an passing riders
an having good solid racing, to finish up at 10,000' elevation. I felt a
little winded up there since we started at sea level that morning.
Finished 24th today. Tomorrow we start a 500 mile stage over the Andes at
15,000' elevation. Heard there is some cold stuff up there.
My Team has been amazing from management down to the Pirelli tire mafia.
They have worked sleepless nights preparing the bikes and I can't thank
them enough.
Love you all,
Adios for now.

Permalink Reply by WJM on January 10, 2013 at 10:48pm

15,000'. 450cc weight with 125cc power.

Permalink Reply by will on January 10, 2013 at 10:01pm

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on January 10, 2013 at 11:24pm

Agree with JC. Silt looks like a real grimace.

Permalink Reply by pdxracefan on January 11, 2013 at 2:53pm

That's some serious silt! Looks more volcanic ash.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on January 10, 2013 at 11:25pm

Permalink Reply by Jaci on January 11, 2013 at 11:01am

Winner of Stage 7, USA's own Kurt Caselli. So awesome!

Permalink Reply by Jeff Upp on January 11, 2013 at 1:06pm

AWESOME!!!! Soilidly in top 10 now. Amazing for a rookie. Podium?!?!

Permalink Reply by will on January 11, 2013 at 10:04pm

KTM Factory Team riders on Friday night were working together in the marathon stage bivouac to switch engines in Cyril Despres' bike after technical difficulties held him up in Stage Seven
Team Manager Alex Doringer, in a phone interview on Friday evening said the KTM Factory riders were working hard in their overnight bivouac to switch the engine in Despres' bike after he was held up with technical difficulties in Stage Seven.
The rally has entered the 'marathon stage' where riders can have no outside assistance from mechanics or support crews in either Friday's Stage Seven or Saturday's long Stage Eight. But it is possible for them to work on the bikes themselves and it is within regulations to switch engines between two of the team's competing bikes. Doringer said Despres, Kurt Caselli and Ruben Faria were working together to remove the engine while the other riders in the KTM factory teams were working on one of the support bikes in preparation for making the switch. Despres is himself a skilled mechanic and his teammates also have mechanical skills.
Doringer:"The regulations allow for the engine to be changed over if it is done by the riders themselves. This is a real team effort and they are all pitching to help out. Cyril will start tomorrow with a 15-minute penalty but he will also get some advantage as one of the pro riders and will be allowed to start closer to the front than his finish in today's stage allowed. He will probably be starting at around 26th position," he said.
http://www.ktm.com/us/news-events/dakar-newsroom/dakar-2013-news/th...

Permalink Reply by will on January 11, 2013 at 11:29pm

Here's a first hand weather report that's in English (sort of).
http://ec.libsyn.com/p/a/5/a/a5a2b6ffe486af24/13D09.mp3?d13a76d516d...

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Next ›
• Page