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Dakar has started...Yam 450 2 wheel in first!!
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[QUOTE="Tony Eeds, post: 720232, member: 32023"] [b][i]Stage Fifteen[/i][/b] [i]Interesting comments by Fabrizio Meoni about the possibility of driving a car at Dakar after retiring from KTM. Check ot out.[/i] Stage 15 - 16 January 2004 - TIDJIKJA > NOUAKCHOTT Liaison 2 km Special 579 km Liaison 70 km Total 651 km With three days to go before the finish line of the Telefonica Dakar 2004, today's stage between Tidjikja and Nouakchott (579kms of special) was one of the few last chances to make a difference or gain precious minutes. This was the last real tough stage, hence, the one that could decide the winner. The competitors had over 590kms of special, including Erg crossings and 240kms of camel grass. Riding at high-speed they had to be real careful to avoid those hard mounds. The risk crashing was definitely high. The Mauritanian stage demanded its due from the riders - the stage was long and difficult. The navigation required full concentration. After this tough passage, there's another 200kms of fast tracks all the way to Nouakchott. Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, was founded in 1958 on the ancient site of an army ground. In 1999, the city had 800 000 inhabitants. In 1966, a wharf and a deep sea harbour were built with the help of China. One can not expect to see the typical aspects of a traditional past. But it is a pleasant and friendly town. MEONI WINS, ROMA UNDER PRESSURE In the bike race, Fabrizio Meoni clinched his 2nd win while Sainct gained time on Roma, still leader in the overall. Fabrizio Meoni, the 'Lion of the desert' marked his possible retirement from the rally-raid scene with another piece of glory. He soldered on despite pain in his injured knee to win perhaps hs last Dakar stage: "For the first 200kms, it was really an enduro race and I took good care of my knee. Once we made it to the camel grass, I knew it was my kind of surface and started speeding. Not at full speed but going fast. Then on the last 100kms, I went to the maximum : a real motocross track on sand with big bends where you can go fast. This special victory pleases me because it'll remain as one of my last memories of the Dakar. I'm convinced it's time to stop. It's obvious for me, but I'm still under contract. I have to talk to KTM and my other sponsors." I knew I liked this guy for a good reason: "There is no chance to see me do the Dakar in a car. It isn't my job. I'm a biker. Why don't you ask me if I want to be a footballer or a golfer ? Those who have done this type of switch do so because for them racing is a job. For me, it's different. I know how to ride a bike, not a car. What will I do after ? I don't know. I'll certainly find an activity that will allow me to live a good life and maybe organise rally-raids. You know, I don't need a lot of money : no big car, no tropical trips - and my wife is the same. I already have a property with a house in Tuscany. I think I'll spend a lot of time there. The Dakar is nearly my life. I don't know how my head will react in a few weeks. I might be annoyed to finish on this result, but I'm happy, because the problems I've had prove that the time has come. My best memories ? It's always been nice because I took a lot of pleasure on the bike. But what I like above all are the long difficult stages like one a few years ago when we finished after 400kms in camel grass. This year's race is very hard as well. Eight years ago, my dream was only to win a special on the Dakar, so with what I've achieved since then, I can be satisfied." Meanwhile all eyes were on the battle between Roma (KTM n°4) and Sainct (KTM n°1) for overall leadership. Finishing 2nd, Sainct reduced the gap on Roma, 3rd on the day, but gained only 2min32. Interestingly, Richard Sainct has a different idea of camel grass: "The first part was difficult. As it had rained a lot and with the passage of the opening cars and trucks, the sand was hard. Then there was camel grass and that was horrible. I caught Roma quite quickly and then we were all together. I didn't have much to do except go full speed. Roma did the same and we finished together. There was not much to hope for : the navigation was simple, all you had to do was follow the track left by the opening trucks. We can't say quite yet that Nani has won. We'll see in two days but things are going his way. Tomorrow, he starts two minutes behind me, if there's dust, he'll be able to catch me. When you have won three Dakars, you don't aim at second or third place. You come to win. But I had a fall. I had one small mistake at the beginning and I'm paying for it. A fall too many. That's the race !" Roma doesn't want to think about the victory: "It was a difficult day : the part in the camel grass was technical and it wasn't easy to ride in the soft sand. There still is tomorrow, I don't think it should be too difficult. I'll let Sainct go because there should be a lot of dust, but not too far away. If everything goes well like it has until now, maybe I'll start talking about the victory, but many things can still happen on a bike. Every kilometre that we ride is a kilometre less, but there still are 250kms. At some moments I thought of the win but quickly took that out of my mind. In 2000, that's what I was thinking about and I broke my engine a few days before the finish. Of course it's important for me to win, that's why you're here, but it isn't an obsession. When it does become an obsession, you make mistakes. This year, I'm having fun. It's something that I've learnt from the previous years. Added to that, the fact that we're in Africa means that there aren't a lot of Europeans. No Spaniards to talk to me about the victory and put extra pressure on my shoulders." At this time of the race everyone within the large KTM-team is content with the long Spaniard winning the rally. Fabrizio Meoni states, "Nani has tried it so many times now. He really deserves it. And with the time gap he has got he can surely reach Dakar in the top position. That is his opportunity now." Gilles Salvador, manager of the team Gauloises KTM France, judges just as fair. "I want it for Nani and Spain. It is a race and there is only one winner. Next year it is maybe Richard again or maybe Cyril to lead the pack. The KTM teams and the individual riders are fighting passionately in the race. But when they reach the finish they all get along great!" The fight for the last place on the podium is also exciting. Despres was fifth on the day, loosing precious time on 4th palce Cox. In the overall, the Frenchman only has a tiny 43sec advantage on the South African. "Tomorrow will be difficult because Cox will try everything to attack and he's a great rider", insisted Despres who will take off just behind Cox in the penultimate stage. "43 seconds," states Alfie, "that really isn't all that much. Tomorrow I will start ahead of Cyril. So I really need to pace forward and push for power." Lee Palmer, his mechanic, is working to prepare his KTM 660 Rally really well. "I'm going to prepare the bike so that Alfie will be able to fly!" And hopefully he will safely land in Dakar. Stage 12 winner David Fretigne - who was quickest through CP1 (113km) - was hit with a 15-minute penalty for losing his time-card, relegating him to eighth - 18:14 down on Meoni. Frétigné, riding Yamaha's revolutionary two-wheel-drive 450cc WR450F 2-Trac, led the way at checkpoint one, but a misplaced timecard cost dearly. The penalty denied him a top three stage finish, but with just two days of the rally remaining he gained a place and is now seventh overall. Explained Frétigné: "The start of the special was good for my bike. I caught Richard Sainct pretty quickly and then we all started riding together. The pace wasn't that quick and I followed along taking care not to consume too much fuel. At checkpoint one I had the best time but everything went out the window on coming into checkpoint two when I couldn't find my time card. The pocket on the front of my seat, where I normally put the card, was open and empty. That was when I discovered that you get a 15 minute penalty for such a crime. To say I wasn't happy would be an understatement. We take risks all day to put in a good result and then get punished harshly for a stupid mistake. I rode quietly to the end of the special but still managed to have two little crashes because I'd lost my concentration." LUNDMARK STOPPED! >From Lundmark's diary yesterday: "After the finish PålAnders said they had such a gap that it was maybe a good idea to let off and go for safety. "No old-age philosophy here!" PG answered quickly." At km 185, PG Lundmark (KTM n°6) was forced to stop with mechanical problems. He appears to be waiting for his assistance vehicle. The Swede broke a rear suspension and lost all hope to keep his 5th spot overall while waiting for his assistance truck. Mikael Laine: PG's wife said that PG is having problems with the swingarm bolt, his only chance to continue is to wait for the KTM service truck (about 6 hours behind) and he's not even sure they would help. This just sucks. If you got a swingarm-kit, his possition is 18 degree 33.873 north and 12 degree 50.488 west =/ damn damn damn damn. Pal Andres Ullevalseter and Francois Flick were racing best among those private riders which are supported by the KTM service. They are in 7th and 9th place. The Latvian, Janis Vinters, had to quit racing after a severe crash. Team Gauloises KTM France was able to defend its leading position in the team standings (98 points). It still leads ahead of Team Repsol KTM Spain (118). Team Gauloises KTM International (166) claims the 3rd position and Team Red Bull KTM USA (440) is in 4th position. Masuoka wins Mitsubishi maintained their iron grip on this year's Dakar as Hiroshi Masuoka and Stephane Peterhansel dominated Stage 15. The Japanese driver finished with a 9:11 cushion over his teammate, the overall leader. The pair headed the field all day, with Masuoka taking the lead from Peterhansel after checkpoint 1 (113km) and never relinquishing it. In the car special, Mitsubishi added a 6th win to their 2004 team record and this time it was Hiroshi Masuoka's (n°201) turn to triumph (4th special, 2 for Peterhansel). If Peterhansel (n°203) was able to finish under 10 minutes (9min11) from the Japanese, all the others were, once again, well behind. When the EVO2 boys decide to go fast, there's not a lot one can do. Giniel De Villiers (Nissan n°207) tried his best, finishing third at 17min32 while Jutta Kleinschmidt (Volkswagen n°204) took fourth spot at 21min54. Fifth was Jean-Louis Schlesser (Schlesser Ford n°200) at 32min43. In the overall, Masuoka (55min53) is now under an hour behind 'Peter' in the overall. The Frenchman has one foot on the highest step of the podium but he'll certainly keep in mind what happened last year on the penultimate day of the race when he lost the rally despite having a 25min50 lead. "A mechanical problem can happen at any moment. Every kilometre has its own surprises." Comfortably settled in third spot, Jean-Louis Schlesser is at 2h55min while Alphand (BMW n°207) is fourth at 4h04min. Nissan's Colin McRae struggled with a prop-shaft problem at km 138. First yesterday, did he abuse his equipment too much on the marathon stage? Forced to wait for his assistance truck, the Scotsman was still expected at the bivouac. Former winner Kleinschmidt - who had dire mechanical difficulties early in the race and ran the risk of being disqualified after unauthorised repair work - took fourth. Jean-Louis Schlesser blames the helicopter: "The helicopter was flying too low and with the wind, our front left side was ripped off. Otherwise, today's special was really hard, but was according to me the nicest of the rally. At the beginning it went well but I especially enjoyed the end with a lot of fast driving. We were following Alphand. We were on the right track but he went on another and we followed him. It was a wrong track and both of us were stuck in the dunes. I had quite a scare." Jutta Kleinschmidt (GER - Volkswagen * 4th) - 204 "The first 250kms were horrible. All that camel grass ! It was difficult to have pleasure. I was in 1st gear all the time. Added to that, we don't have a inflation-deflation system on the car. We had a few frights. We jumped a d une going too fast and almost landed on the front bumper. The last 200kms were however nicer and we had fun. I'm happy to be here after these two marathon stages. Yesterday, I worked on the car until 2 in the morning. Now I need a shower and a good bed after a difficult night." Giniel De Villiers (RSA - Nissan * 3rd) - 208 "I'm fine although the day was difficult. The camel grass made things harder. We went slowly to avoid damaging the car. We then went faster on the last portion. At one moment, the car started smoking. We stopped but found nothing wrong. Of course, a final special win would be nice but it's hard to predict. We won't take unnecessary risks to make it to Dakar." After all these strenuous stages, the 16th stage from Nouakchott to Dakar is a route for pleasure. Time is taken on 191 km out of the 647 km of the stage. The track isn*t all that bad either. The route to Dakar could become a show run. The A.S.O. is expecting thousands of Senegalese people along the track cheering for the *survivors* of the 26th edition of the Dakar rally. Except for the fight for 3rd, Despres vs. Cox, don't expect dramatic changes in the finishing order over the next two days. And, I expect Meoni to hold on to 6th. Overall Standings. With just a few relatively short stages remaining, the only changes likely to occure before the finish will be between those very close together on time, and/or if someone drops out. Note how drop outs really helped the positioning of the top 10 in both the cars and bikes, since 2 days ago. Team Gauloises KTM France 001 Richard Sainct 2nd +7 min 002 Cyril Despres 3rd +46 min 009 Jean Brucy withdrew, broken collarbone in stage 9 Gauloises KTM International 003 Fabrizio Meoni 6th +3hr 3min 007 Giovani Sala withdrew after stage 6 010 Alfie Cox 4th +47 min Repson KTM Spain 004 Juan Roma 1st 011 Marc Coma Withdrew after a crash in stage 13 019 Esteve Pujol 19th +11hr 54 min, including 1 hour penalty Red Bull KTM USA 016 Larry Roeseler 12th +5hr 57 min 017 Paul Krause 16th +9hr 57 min 025 Scott Harden withdrew, broken ankle in stage 9 Team Farmerlips 006 Per Gunner Lundmark Broke down in stage 15 - dang! 015 Pal andedrs Ullevalseter 5th +1hr, 56 min Yamaha France 012 David Fretigne on the 2wd Yamaha, 7th +3hr 22 min Off Road Adventure 041 David Casteu, riding Cagiva 900 Elefant +33rd, 19 hr, 8 min Privateer, works for Dutsche Bank 171 Andy Coaker, Australian, 25th +13 hr, 28 min Rally Raid UK 170 Bertil Marcusson XR650, he rode to the start of the rally, in Clermont from Sweden - 61st +42hr, 39 min 130 Yuki Tanaka Didn't start stage 12 - too bad! Cars: SCHLESSER - FORD 200 Jean-louis Schlesser 3rd +2hr 55 min 209 Josep maria Servia 21st +24hr, 16 min MITSUBISHI MOTORS 201 Hiroshi Masuoka 2nd + 56 min 203 Stephan Peterhansel 1st 206 Miki Biasion, withdrawn, stage 7 211 Andrea Mayer 5th, 5hr 45 min NISSON 202 Colin McRea 19th +24hr, 1 min 205 Ari Vatanen Hit a tree in stage 14 208 Giniel De Villiers 7th 8hr, 12 min VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT 204 Jutta Kleinschmidt 8th 20hr, 56 min 224 Bruno Saby 6th 6 hr, 58 min X - RAID BMW 207 Luc Alphand 4th 4 hr, 4 min 212 Gregiore DeMavius 5th 4 hr, 13 min PRO SYSTEM 232 Eric Vigouroux, 26th, +31hr, 34 min 233 Mark Miller - no info since stage 9, ? withddrawn 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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