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@ 1.14 the mother grabbing her kid's hand as the Rip Snorting Orange Beast approaches pretty much says it all! Go Robby!!!
So I guess you don't realize that there is a huge amount of time to get all of the cars off the start line?? What happened was that a few cars got through the drainage and then due to thunderstorms flash floods made it impassable for everyone else. Do you want to give everyone except the few who able to cross before the flood a DNF and send them home??? Rallys commonly neutralize stages due to problems and everyone is given the same time. Oh wait....... they don't do that in Nascar do they???
I actually wonder about this. Other than cycling and Mark Mcgwire, I think doping is a little more subtle in sports. Its often guys trying to stay healthy, get healthy, extend their career or guys on the margin trying to get that little edge to make the show. I think it would be naive to assume with all that money and fame on the line that motorcycle racers never dope. Im not sure how much it would help, but if you have to recover from injury to get that paycheck, every little bit could help...
Yeah but your favorite leg to hump has benefited in the past from such actions. He has a history of brain farts causing him to have to start in the back of the pack. He would be the first to squeal like a stuck pig if the leaders made it through a section which became impassable for he and everyone else. Believe me, I think the rally guys are all screwed up, they don't even race at night for Christ's sake! Real off road racers race all day and all night, they don't have nappy time between "stages".
<a href="<iframe src=" http:="" player.vimeo.com="" video="" 57325875"="" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""> <a href="http://vimeo.com/57325875">2013 Team SPEED Dakar Stage 8 from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user15665540">PlanetRobby on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo. "><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/57325875" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" width="500"></iframe> 2013 Team SPEED Dakar Stage 8 from PlanetRobby on Vimeo.
Not a big fan of the decision; but hey it's the ACO, what do you expect? Glad to see RG in the hunt for stage wins though.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the rest of the race is a sham. In a situation where much of the field can't pass the course it's difficult/impossible to come up with a solution that can be quickly enacted and fair to everyone. That said, the officials do seem to have their favorites...
Every year we get to a point in the Dakar where the organizers get in over their heads... juggling the theory of their stage planning against the unforeseen. They do the best they can trying to protect those most commited to their event first, and then their priorities trickle down to the least of their concerns. The Dakar organizers take greater national pride in their race. Obviously Robbie Gordon does not represent a major revenue stream for the Rally, so he's the least of their (ASO) concerns. BMW/ Mini Cooper and KTM obviously are very important to them. So they are going to get "home field advantage", something we in American sports witness daily and are all too familiar with in our pro sports programs. As long as we know what to expect from the ASO Dakar organizers, we just take their home field implimentations as "it is what it is"... It's still great to watch Robbie outrunning huge car sponsors day in and day out and what it represents... the little guy with the big heart beating up on the big corporate guys. There is still 6 days left in this race and anything can happen. Don't loose the spirit of this race yet... which is that anything can happen... and usually does. And against all odds, heros are born and reborn in this race at every stage. That holds up even against all the home field stuff...
any way around it, that decision sux!... to give everybody who didn't finish pekkerhandels' time just doesn't seem right, you might as well cancel the whole stage, but then robby loses a bit of his gain.... basically that stage was a 3 car race?.... hard decision, i guess... what i wanna know, is why they configured his car w/the radiators way out in front like that?.... there's a pic somewhere w/his bodywork off, and those rads are out in front of the wheels w/some pretty skimpy frame around them. it seems they could put them inboard of the wheels somehow w/some ductwork and some fans, and that radiator smashing thing wouldn't have happened?.... my $.03......
