The Simon Pavey Dakar 2013 Thread

[Deadly99]

As a fellow Canuck I'll be cheering that Don finally gets his finishers medal

[The Griz]

Go Si!!!!!!

[DORION]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

As a fellow Canuck I'll be cheering that Don finally gets his finishers medal

+ 1 For Don and Simon

Had the pleasure of riding with Si and Llew in Wales -GREAT guys

RIDE WELL

[Oz Nutter]

Good Luck for the Dakar man.....

[Gunner45]

Have a great rally Si. Were pulling for you!

[Richard ORS]

Stage One: Lima - Pisco, 263 Km

Team Delta Kunststoffe Husqvarna UK riders, Simon Pavey and Don Hatton, complete the first stage with out incident.

Despite Simon having a dose of food poisoning last night both he and Don have completed the first day to Pisco. For the full story and latest photos click here or paste http://www.simonpavey.com/stage-one-they-are-off/ into your browser.

[Flanman13]

Simon,
Great to see you at Dakar again. Go man Go.
TCK,
Really enjoying the quality of the vid and pics. Great stuff.

Good luck guys. Like they say ' a dream for those left behind'

[Richard ORS]

Stage Two – Pisco to Pisco – 328km.

Simon has a strong second day on the first real stage of the 2013 Dakar Rally as the race begins to claim it’s first victims.


The first real stage of the 2013 Dakar saw racers tackle the first difficult dunes of the race, with tricky navigation, high speeds and some dangerous sands catching many riders out and ending the event prematurely for many.

Despite the difficulties that many encountered, Delta Kunststoffe Husqvarna rider, Simon, rode consistently in a stage that saw the leader board flipped around. In claiming 54th place, Simon moved up a few spots in the overall standing and continued to avoid mistakes and trouble.

Don Hatton, the team’s second rider also had an uneventful and solid day in the sand as he came to grips with riding a new bike and bedding in with sand riding. Stage two saw Don roll into the end of the stage 163rd, a solid result for the Canadian as he looks to overcome his previous bad luck.

Simon Pavey – “ I really enjoyed the stage today, I’m not a massive fan of the big speed stuff but actually it was really fun. I didn’t push hard at all, I just cruised along at a good pace and ended the day with a decent result. We are so early in the race, there is no need to push and make mistakes. A few people went out of the race today and I can see why. The stage had some dangerous bits and it was quite hard to see them. There were a few areas with sand ‘waves’, the ground had baked hard there too and you just couldn’t see them. I think everyone had a few scary moments in them.

There was also some difficult navigation at about km 70. I missed the waypoint at first and had to turn back to find it. I think a few people made the same mistake too. The bike felt great again today, it’s just so easy to ride, and we have done a good job with it. There were a few difficult dunes today, the kind of thing that in the past has proved challenging but today I cruised through everything.

Don Hatton – “Today was exciting. It was a tough stage, lots of sand and really hot. The medics said it was 39 degrees in the stage. The sand was a little intimidating at first; some of the dunes were really big and soft. I am so much more comfortable with the bike, it amazing in the sand. It was working really well; I wouldn’t change anything on it. It’s only the second day that I’ve ridden it but I feel so at home already on it. Over the stage I was able to push on a little bit more, but my goal is just to finish this race

There were a few dangerous moments on the stage today too, I passed a few abandoned bikes from people crashing but the worst moment was when the lead cars caught me. Out of the ten that came past, only two used their sentinel’s, that’s terrifying.

I’m looking forward to getting these first few sand days behind us so we can get into the terrain that I do know and can ride. Tomorrow will be another hard day but I’m feeling really good about everything.”

Stage three has the rally heading south toward the famous city of Nasca. The stage is completely sand and will prove a difficult challenge for the whole race. Starting out gently for the first 100km the sand will quickly become extremely difficult.


Stage Two Results.
56. Simon Pavey - 03:16:50
164. Don Hatton - 05:03:56

Overall Standings.
54. Simon Pavey - 04:03:45
163. Don Hatton - 06:20:16

For the latest photos click HERE or paste http://www.simonpavey.com/galleries/ into your browser

[izom]

like this one- people taking their time on the dunes!

[coaxial]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

As a fellow Canuck I'll be cheering that Don finally gets his finishers medal

Have spoke with Don a few times and rode with him a bit (great pilot!)

Cheering him on that he rides safely across the finish line for a well earned Dakar finish

[coaxial]

Damn, looks like bad news from Don's team:

OMG Don is Hurt
Hit by a truck in the dark. Bike broken in two. No GPS. Stuck out in the dark. People are with him. He can barely talk. Afraid he might have broken his leg. 12 miles from the end of the Special.

Natalie will post as she hears. she is calling Paul Green now.

Let's keep our fingers crossed he is okay.

Live updates on http://rallyraidcanada.com

[BIERSKI]

Originally Posted by izom

like this one- people taking their time on the dunes!

Great Photo.

GOOOO SIMON

[Richard ORS]

Stage Three - Pisco to Nazca - 328 KM

Team Delta Kunststoffe Husqvarna UK suffers some bad luck in a difficult and dangerous stage three as the race makes it’s way toward the famous city of Nazca.

Stage three proved to be another difficult stage, with big dunes, soft sand and fesh fesh causing many of competitor’s problems over the stage. The seemingly short day of 280km proved to be deceivingly difficult.

Despite the nature of the stage, Simon had another steady day as he rode within himself to take 69th place on the stage. Uncomfortable with a lot of the terrain during the stage Simon elected to take the cautious approach as the stage was littered with hidden holes and steep dunes.

However, Canadian Don Hatton was involved in a freak incident. Working through the difficult sands of the stage Don was involved in an incident with a truck that saw some damage to his bike. The incident appeared to have damaged his gear selector, leaving him with difficulty changing gear. Don struggled on through the difficult riding attempting to nurse his bike to end of the special stage but the selector finally stopped choosing gear just 4km from the end of the special. Despite hours of trying to get out of the sand, his bike stuck in neutral, and attempting to convince the organisers to tow him the last part of the stage Don was forced to retire at 1:00 am local time.

Simon Pavey – “Today was tough again, some of the riding was technical, more so then we have had so far. I wasn’t comfortable to ride fast today at all, I really took my time. I stopped twice for a few minutes to fix a problem with my hydration pack as well and on Dakar stopping for just a few minutes costs you 20 places.

The terrain on the stage was treacherous again today, there were lots of hidden dangers out there and it was the type stage that could easily bite you. I was lucky to be relatively near the front of the race today too, there was a chunk of fesh fesh toward the end of the stage, but when I got there I was still able to pick a clean line and ride on the crust.

Once again my bike felt really good, I’m finding it strange to have a bike that’s so good for racing, it’s much more than I’ve had in rally’s before and because it wants to be raced it can be a little tiring. It’s a new style of Dakar that has developed over the last couple of years; it takes some adjusting to get used too. The rally still hasn’t really begun yet though, we’ve got eleven days left so we’ll just take each day as it comes.”

Stage four of the Dakar is the first long stage of the race, made up of a tough 288km special stage followed by a gruelling 429km liaison to reach the town of Arequipa.


Stage Three Results.
70. Simon Pavey - 03:26:11
Don Hatton - Retired

Overall Standings.
56. Simon Pavey – 07:29:56
Don Hatton - Retired

For the latest photos click HERE or paste http://www.simonpavey.com/galleries/ into your browser

[Camelz]

Bad news ref Don.

Well done Si, sounds like you have got the right approach, hopefully today will go well.

[ChubbyThumper]

Good attitude Si, where's the pics llew?