Dakar 2013 - Official Event Coverage - thank you ALL TeamF5, lurkers and posters!

G’day Ozzy – bit of a lie in for you guys after the late night, but a tough week to come, your boys times a bit surprising in SS1 though , a long week, but though they would have been a bit better placed?
Europe still asleep and the Americas in various stages of thinking about bed.
First day of the week here in Dubai and a quick look in before the days work and an earlyish finish ahead of SS2.
Well, were HRC happy – they will say they were – Javier certainly .

After his big smash last year he has ridden conservatively all year, plus if he was riding no. 2 to Philipe then that’s where he stayed – not any more though, a good rider, spent months getting his confidence back, heading up the HRC/Honda South America attack – is he back? Certainly hope so – 8<SUP>th</SUP> start, good position, but within the 3 minute spacing’s.

Johnny – 49<SUP>th</SUP> 6.30 down x 5 = 32.30! – a long way back even from day 1, but hey, he is only 25 secs (x5) behind Fishy!
Ok JC is not there to win, riding team support (won’t be disrespectful to use the WC word) he is supporting Helder and Now Javier also, he is probably a little further back than wished, but he is there for the whole 2 weeks, so that’ll work!

Helder – a slight misjudgment?:eek1 – maybe, but the best time of the week to have one.
4 mins 25 down x 5 = 22 .10 down – not great but a couple of years ago in his first rally and after blowing an engine on day 3 and starting from the back, Sam (yes, had to get him in, bit like football and England in the 1966 world cup ) took the stage and 28 mins of Coma in the process who eventually won – some other serious riders too.

So maybe Helder was considering that – I doubt it though and even though he will be in the 30 sec starts and with the top 10 having to do some hard navigation with the 3 minute intervals (Helder will be navigating of course) he should pull time back – expect a stage win or very close. But he will pull plenty of time back today.

Early days, but SS2 will be interesting and will start to sort the men from the boys – mostly dunes, expect James West #24 to show good on the day and Seb Husseini in the quads – both sand boys and Dubai "locals"!
Now to work


Oh and about 50% of the pre event posting on the ramp and prologue - would say F5 is in the top 10 at the moment


PS - Its ok for the most of the boys to be more than 1/2 hour down being relatively happy - but they are now only there to finish and secure a reasonable position - tough to be podium from there, but not impossible if you are Alien calibre

Ok bollocks'd that one the ASO already account for the 5x - comment still stands, but Helder didn't miscalculate - got it about right - what would really make me think otherwise

Thanks for the nightcap Nate!

Hilarious!

Report from the GHR boys.


D-Day for GHR! The 2013 Dakar Rally has started.

Two years after their debut GHR Honda's second Dakar Rally campaign is finally under way in South America. Following 5 days of preparation and build up in Peru's capital, Lima, the four Honda CRF450X motorcycles and one Honda TRX700XX quad entered by GHR were waved off the start line with 444 other competitors and their machines. Embarking south on a scenic coastal liaison leg, they traced the coastline for 250km to arrive in Pisco where the racing began. The prologue stage of the 2013 event was a warm-up sprint loop through sand dunes merely 13km in length, so brief that most riders finished in under an hour before returning to the Pisco bivouac.

Lead GHR rider #156 Todd Smith from Condobolin finished in 34th place from 183 starters.

"Well, day 1 is done and dusted... I'm pretty happy with how it went, and just cruised through to come in 34th - a great place to start Day 2. I've done my map and the track looks good for tomorrow - some dunes and some road sections. It should be a good stage to learn the roadbooks and GPS. The bike is great, everything worked well."

Second time Dakar entrant, #131 Warren Strange from Western Australia was the next GHR bike to clear the stage and stands in 59th place. A veteran desert racer, he's aware that the race can't be won on the opening stage but it can certainly be lost. Tomorrow his start in the top third of the field will allow him to start chipping away at his objective of a top 20 finish.

GHR have within their ranks two South African riders, both of whom raced the 2012 Australasian Safari with the Australian GHR team. #89 rider Brett Cummings from Witbank - winner of the 2012 Dakar Challenge division at Safari - crossed the line in 103rd place today. The 29 year old engineer has been training hard in preparation for this year's Dakar with fellow South African competitor #91 Glen Grundy, 48, who ended the day in 168th on the time sheet. While Cummings is aiming for a top 50 outright placing in the event, Grundy's sole objective is to finish the race.

Victorian quad rider #274 Paul Smith started today as the first ever Australian to enter the quad class at Dakar. The 34 year old farmer is a seasoned competitor on 4 wheels and concluded the prologue 13th in the field of 38. He has his sights set on a podium spot this year.

Today's results have determined the start order Stage 2, consisting of an 85km liaison and 242km special over mixed terrain in the table lands to the west of the Andes. 3 sections of dunes will test the riders' navigation skills and endurance before they return to Pisco for the second night.

For photos and up to date news on the team members, visit

http://ghrhonda.dirtbike.com.au/blog/

for today / the great info here on ADV
&
for "to old"

Listening to him on Eurosport, I start suspecting that he spends more than a little time here. Maybe that isn't true, but since advrider is the Rome that all roads lead to in the English speaking world, it seems like an ideal resource for anyone working to stay up-to-date and in-the-know.

It's information overkill, but if you simply wanted the best information you'd just need to follow a handful of inmates here and skim past the rest.

Ahem . . . I meant, in theory, were I to somehow, legally, find a way to watch Eurosport here in the states, I would probably hold the aforementioned views.

Seems like trackingdakar.nl is missing Caselli

Here is the Dakar site:
<TABLE class="ft fvm"><TBODY class=selectable><TR id=m99c013 class="c013 a s"><TD class=p>31</TD><TD>013</TD><TH class=m>FARRES GUELL (ESP)</TH><TD class=m>HONDA</TD><TD>000:08:51</TD><TD>00:01:00</TD><TD>00:00:00</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE class="ft fvm"><TBODY class=selectable><TR id=m99c029 class=c029><TD class=p>32</TD><TD>029</TD><TH class=m>CASELLI (USA)</TH><TD class=m>KTM</TD><TD>000:08:51</TD><TD>00:01:00</TD><TD>00:00:00</TD></TR><TR id=m99c082 class="c082 a"><TD class=p>33</TD><TD>082</TD><TH class=m>GUINDANI (FRA)</TH><TD class=m>YAMAHA</TD><TD>000:08:54</TD><TD>00:01:03</TD><TD>00:00:00</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


on trackingdakar.nl:

<TABLE class=res cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class="link CountryFin"><TD>31</TD><TD>(167)</TD><TD class=tl>013 - FARRES GUELL Gerard (ESP)

</TD><TD class=tl>HONDA</TD><TD>+00:00:27</TD><TD>(30)</TD><TD>+00:01:00</TD></TR><TR class="link ts CountryFin"><TH class=sp></TH><TD>32</TD><TD>(103)</TD><TD class=tl>082 - GUINDANI Vincent (FRA)</TD><TD class=tl>YAMAHA</TD><TD>+00:00:27</TD><TD>(28)</TD><TD>+00:01:03</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>




Is it just me??

OK up to speed. So many pages to read.

No major drama yet.

The aussie boys and the fast pom's are close together .

Best Brit ..................................... James West
Seb on the quads doing a great job.

Another Dubai resident in 4th with the trucks. Marcel van VLiet runs a truck operation (export of trucks etc) in DUbai and is a semi resident and his Navigator Marcel Pronk is full time resident.

son of a bitch,
my wife left a few hoursago for a girl guide jamboorie in tasmania, most of which seems to be on fire, and i'm daddy day care for the next week. its taken this long to catch up and i only managed that with a 14 month old asleep on my chest.
it's going to be a long week...

Great update from Freedom Rally Racing FB page:

Saturday 5: Today was the start of the Dakar race. The course was set up as a short 13 km ride, so the riders could basically just test their bikes. We all rode the regular highway to Pisco, where the riders went off through the trails and we went straight to camp. We will be here two days, as tomorrows race is a &#8220;loop&#8221; that comes right back here!
I have no idea who of our riders is in what position, because at the moment, nobody cares. Kevin received penalties 3 times for speeding on the highway, which basically translates to him loosing 30 positions in the ranking. No big deal right now, but he was not happy about it. Luis had &#8220;experimented&#8221; with a different carburetor (therefore the long night two days ago, adapting it to the bike) but found that although he saved a lot of gas, he lost much needed power. So the angel Jaime, put the original one back on. As I write this Luis is on the verge of trying the bike out again. Marco and Mateo&#8217;s bikes performed well and so did Kevin&#8217;s.
The highway ride down here was another great experience. The &#8220;Law of the jungle&#8221; applies here. Highways have two painted lanes, which at any time can become a 4 or 5 lane highway even all going the same way! In Pisco we hit a traffic jam. At one point the one lane south, became two. The oncoming traffic shoulder, also became a southbound lane, as the northbound lane remained that way&#8230; unless someone (or many) were passing cars. Then we were all going the same way! At one point, a brand new Mazda 3, tried to get by us as we were stopped. He tore the campers right shade pole off its footing, at the same time as he received a gouged side panel and broken side view mirror. I looked down at him from the RV&#8217;s cabin window, asked him politely WTF he was doing, as he proceeded to say he was sorry and drove on! Insurance? Police accident report? Those are foreign concepts here.
According to the media, 800.000 to 1M people watched the race from the side of the highway. I can attest to that. People everywhere, where you&#8217;d least expect them. All of them waving and taking photo&#8217;s as we went by. At one point when we stopped for gas, many of them asked if they could take a picture of their small kid, riding the mini-bike that Mike carries on the front end of the RV! Or could they put the kid in my window and take a picture that way! Of course I let them! Three parents have a picture of me with their kid! Not good.
I&#8217;m starting to figure out my job as a communicator a little bit more. I&#8217;m going to write every day and then post to FB without any photos. I will then just keep adding photos to the Dakar album I created. That way, when I get an opportunity to piggy back on someone&#8217;s &#8220;open&#8221; Wi-Fi (as just happened) the upload will be fast. Photos can come next, but as also just happened, the connection went down during that upload. So I&#8217;ll have to wait until I have a more reliable connection for that.
Another factor that also comes to play is that I not always have power to charge the computer and my phone, unless the generator is on. It&#8217;s on a lot, so hopefully it will all work out.
This place is surreal. I just went outside the trailer to watch a pretty good fireworks display, given by someone outside the camp (bivouac) !! We have many flowers who camp outside ours. After setting up camp and getting everyone what they needed, mechanics working, tents set up, water fetched I found some time to go walking. What a blast! I Talked to many fellow Argentines, a couple of mechanics from the Netherlands, helping their friend realize his riding dream: Finishing the Dakar!, a few &#8220;Brits&#8221; who&#8217;s rider had my same last name (a Welch name), and a few French guys, who worked on the camera&#8217;s inside the drivers cabin. My French got a few smiles, and then we reverted to their English&#8230; that I smiled at.
So now, 2:00 am I&#8217;m off to sleep. Luis is still working on the bike, although I did hear it start and hum nicely. I hope I can post this, using the sporadic &#8220;free&#8221; Wi-Fi. G&#8217;night Dakar Fans!

Ok, what time are we estimated to start SS2., no not the liaison . Yes I am lazy.

Heeey, Vestal, my clock says it is only 1am in Peru. Is my Iphone buggered?

About 4 pm Dubai time was my guess from the Ipad in bed this morning, but it was 6.15 at the time, so don't bank on it being right.

05.30 am and an 85km liason start - so about and hour and a half later SS2 start, say 7am - plus 9hrs = 4pm?

That's with a Starbuck's stop on the way

Do not know?? I would guess it is 9:30 there.

Edit, I was way off.
You are right
Sunday, January 6, 2013 at 1:09:56 AM PET

How quickly I forget how far east SA is from my place.

Good Morning gentlemen and thanks for the additional insights.

got some good sleep after two days driving in the Liwa desert. Ready for Day2 now.

I want Helder on the podium again and Manuel in the Top 20.

Go Manuel !!!
Go Helder !!!

my young blokes ipod tells me it is 1 am over there.