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General Moto | Off-Topic Posts
Dakar has started...Yam 450 2 wheel in first!!
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[QUOTE="Tony Eeds, post: 711190, member: 32023"] [b][i]Here is Stage Three[/i][/b] Dang that sounds like fun. Stage 3 - 3 January 2004 - CASTELLÓN > TANGER Liaison 4 km Special 9 km Liaison 852 km Total 865 km Under a bright sun and clear blue sky, the Platja del Pinar beach staged another exciting special for the numerous Spanish fans of the Telefonica Dakar 2004. Like yesterday, Frenchman David Fretigne took his two-wheel drive Yamaha to victory, again, ahead of compatriot Despres. David Fretigne, on the Yamaha WR450, again took advantage of his very "well balanced" two wheel drive machine to set the fastest time. "It's great to have confirmation that the two wheel drive bike is so stable on sand. It's funny to tell myself that for my first Dakar, I'm leading the overall standing before going to Africa. I never could have imagined that. But I have to stay calm, I still consider that I'm here to learn." Too bad Yamaha didn't enter 2 or 3 of these machines. It takes a team of several to win the Dakar, with team members providing technical assistance. This one bike is too at risk of breaking down, and droppping into umpteenth place in one stage, against a hourd of KTMs, one of which will do enough to win. Exciting to see Fretigne does in the big dunes. A smaller bike makes a lot of sense, if it can hold together. With his 2nd stage win, Fretigne, the three time World enduro champion, leads fellow Frenhman Cyril Despres (KTM n°2) by 16 sec. Despres has finished 2nd in each of the first 3 stages. Privateer Eric Verhoef was fourth, with Isidre Esteve Pujol fifth, Pal Anders Ullevalseter sixth, Alfie Cox seventh, Richard Sainct eighth, Nani Roma ninth and Italian Fabrizio Meoni again struggling in 15th, but only 46 seconds down on Frétigné for the stage. Meanwhile, Britain's Patsy Quick, riding for the Desert Rose Team, brought her KTM 660 Rallye home 3min 38sec down on the leader and is currently 127th overall, 14min 22sec behind the leaders. Alfie Cox "A big crowd in Clermont. A big crowd in Narbonne. I was once again surprised by the number of people today. It's good for the rally. You see here how important the stages are for the good health of the race. For us there not as interesting on a sporting point of view. Now Europe is behind us and I can't wait to ride in the desert. . . I don't consider them to be real stages yet. I don't like them at all. I'm more than glad that we finally leave for Africa." Team Farmerlips Ullevalseter is 11th, and Lundmark is 21. Lundmark: "Today's special was on a sandy beach in Castellon, Spain, fun to ride, and the sand was as deep as in the real desert. The difference was the impressive number of spectators, something we're not used to in Africa. The bike runs well and it's difficult to find anything to complain about. I fell un-Swedish, if you understand what I mean!" Moto-rookie Thierry Hupin is 179th overall. This is from the KTM web page - I think they must've heard our comments about coverage of the privateers: Let's look at the numerous private riders, which are performing at the race with KTM's assistance. Usually, they are left in the shadows of the professionals. That doesn't do justice as we think. Their enthusiasm, their endurance and their will to fight at the Dakar should be estimated just as high as the work of the professionals. Therefore, we will check on them time and again this year. Silent heroes Marco Borsi and Checco Tonette have one big dream. They want to ride the Dakar at least once. This year they live their dream. Relatives and friends given them financial help. The two Italians chose a KTM 660 Rally for their bikes. Tonetti, in real life an airplane pilot, tells us why: "KTM's support is perfect for amateur riders like us. I could always call Tatjana Hayward (customer support at KTM - the editor) whenever I had any questions or problems." Checco Tonetti has not been around bikes for years. "When my son bought his KTM a year ago I became engrossed with it again. I wanted to ride a motorcycle myself again. Well and then the dream of participating at the Dakar got started. And now I am here." Both bikes of the adventurers are supported by the mechanics of KTM's support team. "We have planned to reach Dakar city," explains Marco Borsi, an electronic specialist in real life, their ambitious goal. "For that we have worked very hard. All people we know keep their fingers crossed for our goal and we don't want to disappoint them." In the cars, Giniel De Villiers (Nissan n°208) won today's special on the rally: "I'm really happy. It's great to win a special on the Dakar, especially the first one for me. This victory is kind of a compensation after yesterday's incident.", where he crashed and damaged the car. Gregoire De Mevius, second in the BMW today, leads overall. And finally, I can't help but cut and past PG Lundmark's diary entry verbatim. It add so much perspective: Dayreport: I am sitting in the mobile home, listening to Omar and the Howlers CD, Live at the Paradiso. What a guitarist and blues singer he is! Talk about fuel for the soul. No blues, no good results, that's my opinion. Lukas is calling about the stock market, Rett Butler (Anders Walberg) is driving and T/S Granberg handles the map. We will miss Butler's dinners when we get to Africa. Entrée in the form of fish with white wine and a main course with meat and red wine. I have taken up the same procedure, having Cola Light for the entrée and ordinary Coke with the main course, with the red label. Seems I'm about to become a city slicker after all. Talking of Lukas' Team Cityslickers, we need rules for how a city slicker should be, seven of them. Like the ones we have for a FarmerLips member, but adapted for the city. Here is a short profile: He showers, changes his shirt, underwear and shaves daily. His shirt has a button-down collar. Spends all his time in cities and hates camping. The closest he gets to nature is an 18-hole golf course. Wine is a necessity and drinking from the bottle is out. Get it? Send in suggestions for the rules for this personality to our guest book. Yesterday, Lukas told me his Lundin share was up to 34 Kronor. I had decided to sell my shares when they exceeded 30 and buy a new car. So, here goes: I want to sell my almost new, 1988, Jeep Laredo pickup. Well, new. It has some rust and has been crashed so the frame isn't quite straight. New rear tyres last only 10,000kms. But it has extra equipment in the form of a radio, which is broken now, but can probably be fixed. The question is how to go about selling my shares without making the stock market collapse. We are talking of several hundred here. I think I must sell them over a period to avoid fluctuations on the market. Seems awkward to sell, when you're a majority stock holder and I do like my bent Jeep. Maybe it's better to contact a stock broker or forget the whole thing and concentrate on the Dakar. I don't want to be remembered as a stock market speculator. [url]http://www.pgdakar.com/race/2004_dakar/index_en.shtml[/url] Tomorrow's stage takes the competitors from Tangier to Er Rachidia for the first African kilometers of the rally : 75km special on rocky tracks. Fast conditions lead across the Mamoora-forest close to Rabat, then tackle 444km of liaison to the town of Er Rachidia. Tom Warr [/QUOTE]
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General Moto | Off-Topic Posts
Dakar has started...Yam 450 2 wheel in first!!
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