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Dakar 2013 just around the corner!!!

krumgrinder

krumgrinder

Street Cruiser
Just about time to start getting fired up about the Dakar v.2013.  I'm only seeing one American in the two-wheel list, as Jonah Street has retired, Quinn Cody is still healing from another (recent) race injury and Ned Suisse (ADV) has accomplished his goal- and that is Johnny Campbell, who co-drove for Robby Gordon last year but signed on w/Honda's new team this year as Helder Rodrigues water-carrier.  In the cars, Robby is (of course) back again, and appears to have qualified his car preliminarily- at least until the French decide to **** with him again at any rate- but that's it.  Pretty skinny representation for the US of A!  :(  But, all the other usual suspects are in place, and it looks to be another good dog fight!  Action starts Sat 5 Jan, continuing through Sun 20 Jan; still waiting to see what kind of TV highlights we can look forward to.

http://www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.html
 
It's race day one!  Stage one is from Lima to Pisco, traditionally a light, short, warm-up kind of run.  Check out the hoopla at http://www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.html; lots of good info and news feeds, also downloadable apps for iOS/Android devices.  I just pulled down the Android version for my tablet, have to see how well it works- the 2012 version was so-so... For those with cable/sat tv boxes, NBCSports channel is carrying the daily summary/highlights episodes again this year, conveniently airing at 2 or 2:30am  :angry: (but at least it's something) so set those dvr's if you got 'em.  Air time seems to be varying by day, at least this first week so stay vigilant.
 
bajakirch said:
Just learned about this guy: http://www.race2recovery.com/the-team/85-the-team/104-timothy-read
He's a wounded Marine taking part in the Dakar.
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Read the bio, that's a REAL story of an American warrior and leader, God bless him.  But, what's he racing?  I re-scanned the competitors listing, did not see him in the bikes?

On a separate note, did run across another American on a bike that I had apparently missed on my first review of the racers listing- Kevin Muggleton- here's a link to his page on the Dakar race site: http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2013/us/rider/186.html.
 
krumgrinder said:
Read the bio, that's a REAL story of an American warrior and leader, God bless him.  But, what's he racing?
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He's not. He is part of the support team (pit crew) driving in one of the Land Rovers. See all those vehicles at the bottom of his page? He's the second head from the left in the bottom left vehicle. If you click the 'vehicles' link in the menu bar, you'll get a bit more info.

BTW, R2R is a British endeavor, but they include servicemen from other countries on their teams, not just England. None of the wounded vets ride bikes, but they have a couple of cars and trucks entered. R2R was featured last year in an episode of BBC's Top Gear.
 
Ah, I see it now, said the blind man.  ;D

Just watched the highlights from yesterday, they actually had a 15 sec or so blip about the R2R teams- hope they continue to follow up on their progress as the race progresses.

Also heard in the opening bit on the bikes segment that Coma's bike is being ridden by an American by the name of Kurt Caselli, also part of the KTM team, in Coma's absence due to his continuing recovery from a shoulder injury.  Googled up a recent article on him, looks like he's getting a pretty big break/opportunity here to make a name for himself: http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/off-road/2012/12/21/coma-out-of-dakar-kurt-caselli-in/.  Defending '12 winner Despres took it easy on this first stage coming in fifth, while Contardo-Lopez (Chaleco!) a South American favorite took the win, with a couple of younger, newer riders close behind- one on a privateer Honda, besting Honda's factory guys!

No surprise in the cars as Carlos Sainz took the brief first stage, but a Dutchman in a Hi-Lux took second was unexpected.  Robby Gordon buried his Hummer at the top of a dune and promptly blew his reverse gear trying to get out and had to wait for help.  Well, let's hope this calms him down a bit.  :-[
 
Just watched the Day 1 highlights - that face plant in the sand is a prime example of why I don't like riding in sand.

Robby Gordon was doubly screwed because the race officials wouldn't let anyone help him. Ironic thing is, he was taking it easy. He got stuck because he slowed cresting the dune instead of jumping it.

I'm following a couple of Czech riders, currently mid pack. Ceska turns out some amazingly good dirt riders, so I expect them to move up in the faster sections, but sand is not their specialty - not much sand in the Czech Republic.

I really wish they could have longer stages and shorter liaisons, they're spending more time on tarmac than actual race stages.

I would love to build a quad for this, but I don't think my old body could take it. Less than 500 miles in 6 days beat me up pretty good over Thanksgiving - this race is 5300 miles!
 
I also just watched the Day 1 coverage I recorded last night. This is all new to me -- thought I know about the Dakar I've never really followed it or watched any coverage. I actually learned the most about it by watching Charlie Boorman's documentary Race to Dakar.

I learned about the old Paris-Dakar rally many years ago. Can anyone give a brief explanation of why they moved it to South America?

I'm rooting for that R2R team. I remembered them from Top Gear, and I know a guy that had Read as one of his Marines. Said he was the very definition of a gear-head.



 
bajakirch said:
I learned about the old Paris-Dakar rally many years ago. Can anyone give a brief explanation of why they moved it to South America?
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Without making this political - it was a combination of terrorist threats, bandit activity and corruption. Maybe someday it will be back to its roots.
 
Wow! If they had to move it to South America to get away from corruption, it must have been really bad.
 
bajakirch said:
Wow! If they had to move it to South America to get away from corruption, it must have been really bad.
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It was mostly the terrorist threats. And yeah, it was bad.

Don't follow world events much, ehh?
 
World events, sure. The internal workings of a once-a-year rally race halfway across the planet, not as much.
 
bajakirch said:
World events, sure. The internal workings of a once-a-year rally race halfway across the planet, not as much.
Click to expand...

For shame.  Someone needs to get his priorities straightened out.  ;D

Was hoping to get up early enough this morning to see day 2 highlights, but was not successful- anyone else?
 
For sure, RIP Msr. Bourgin.  But, he passed doing what he wanted to do most, so that must count for something- I think it would for many of us.  Still, a tragedy for such a young man to go so soon. :(  Also noted in yesterday's highlights was the passing of former racer Jean-Claude Olivier- many of us will remember his name from earlier Dakar events, going back to the first in '79.  Truly a giant in the French, as well as international, motorcycle world for many decades.  RIP Msr. Olivier.  :(

So, on to the stage 8 highlights- what a dogfight amongst the bikes, cars- and even trucks- so far in this first half of the race.  On the bikes, Americans Kurt Caselli got a stage win on #7, and Johnny Campbell took second in stage 8- which puts Caselli in 11th overall, and Campbell 66th- not bad!  These guys are definitely competitors and hanging tough- in Caselli, especially, we could be witnessing the evolution of a new American Dakar rider for the coming years, perhaps?  Campbell certainly has the right attitude as well- maybe we could see these guys teaming up in the future.  Despres is now in 2nd overall, after a bad day of navigation yesterday and a 15 min penalty for an engine change after damage incurred in stage 7,  French Yamaha rider David Casteu has taken over the race lead, with Ruben Faria in 3rd.  The second half will be exciting, for sure.

In the cars, Robby Gordon in his Hummer continues to show he is a competitor, with his fourth 3rd place stage finish in a row- but short of a miracle he will not overcome his five hour disadvantage due to early stage mishaps, to contend for a podium spot.  But, at least the drama of technical issues has been replaced with the drama of his dislike of Al-Attiyah, who stuck his buggy so bad yesterday that he couldn't even finish the stage.  Much more entertaining than the BS of race officials arguing over specs and engineering.  :-[  It was a rough stage for the cars in particular, with only five finishing, so all the sweeter for Gordon.  So, Stephane Peterhansel in his Mini maintains a small lead over Al-Attiyah at this point, with DeVilliers in his Toyota HiLux 44 min behind in 3rd, overall.

Today is the traditional mid-race rest day, so I'm sure drivers and navigators will be sleeping in while mechanics will be busting a** to get ready for the 2nd half of the race.  Hoping there will be some interesting interviews and recaps in the highlights tonight.
 
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