Dakar 2012 - Official Cliff Notes Version

kaia · Dec 31, 2011

For those who can't or don't have time to drink from the firehose, here's the Cliff Notes version of our Dakar coverage for this year... I'm taking over since PackMule is a otherwise busy. If i miss anything, please feel free to PM me and i'll get it added. I'll be watching the multiple threads with vigilance, keeping the posts here as concise as possible. Game ON!

Doyle's Synopsis from the main thread:

doyle said: ↑

Well, here we are again, another year, another multi-week flurry of posts, disappointed employers, spouses, and woefully neglected children.

I know we have a few threads going already, but with the pre-race thread at 42 pages let's concentrate that one on all the pre-rally preparation and this one on the day to day rally results and news.

For the n00bs, this will be the firehose at full blast. Last year's thread went 501 pages, 12,453 posts, and over 750K views...full speed ahead, buckle your seatbelts. Also, for a primer on following along, specifically on where to find and how to decipher some of the information on Dakar.com, check this thread.

Daily Information:

Official ASO Dakar Website

ADVrider Racing Forum (AKA here)

Marathonrally

Rally Pan Am on Twitter

Also, check the rider list below for links to their personal or team pages, many of which are updated with individual news.

Another great source is Facebook. May be tough if you haven't 'friended' many of the riders, but it seems like the most up to date information on a rider by rider basis hit's FB first, even over twitter.

For this viewing via mobile, I'll add shameless plugs for my feeds. I'll be doing my best to keep the twitter feed rolling with play by play and then daily wrap ups at the minimum via my blog RallyRaidReview.

Where to listen:

http://www.rallyraidio.net/ Competitors and rally followers, check with Packmule or Flood for call in numbers.

Radio Maray (Spanish) If you hablas Espanol, Maray is THE source!

Where to watch:

NBCSports. There is no telling what this years US/Canadian coverage may be since Versus, formerly OLN, was recently bought by NBC Sports. NBCS will be broadcasting Dakar, check your local listings. East Coast US coverage looks to be starting at 1:30am on January 2nd.

Also of course, Eurosport.com runs two updates daily, an interview update and then a stage/daily coverage show. Check either the media or torrent threads as those are the best sources for this information.

Eurosport always puts on some great pre-race content to whet your appetite. Check out the Destination Dakar and Roadbook videos on the Eurosport site.

SBS - Looks like coverage starts on the 2nd with daily updates at 17:30 local time. (I am not sure of the time zones. )

TN.ar - Excellent Spanish language live coverage. Usually continual coverage of the start festivities.

Who to watch:

ADVrider inmates and friends:
Number links to Dakar page, name links to personal or team page if one exists.

<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/009.html" target=_blank">9</a> - <a href="http://www.quinncody.com/" target=_blank">QUINN ALEXIS CODY</a> - (USA) - HONDA CRF 450X
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/014.html" target=_blank">14</a> - <a href="http://www.casteu.fr/" target=_blank">DAVID CASTEU</a> - (FRA) - YAMAHA 450 WRF RALLY
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/019.html" target=_blank">19</a> - <a href="http://www.jonahstreetracing.com/" target=_blank">JONAH STREET</a> - (USA) - YAMAHA YZ450
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/029.html" target=_blank">29</a> - <a href="http://www.berglundracing.com/" target=_blank">THOMAS BERGLUND</a> - (SWE) - HUSABERGFE 450 RR
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/036.html" target=_blank">36</a> - <a href="http://www.samsunderland.com/wordpress/" target=_blank">SAM SUNDERLAND</a> - (GBR) - HONDA CRF 450 DAKAR X
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/050.html" target=_blank">50</a> - <a href="http://www.chavosalvatierra.com/" target=_blank">JUAN CARLOS SALVATIERRA</a> - (BOL) - HONDA CRF450X
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/055.html" target=_blank">55</a> - <a href="http://www.dakarturk.com/" target=_blank">KEMAL MERKIT</a> - (TUR) - KTM 450 RALLY RR
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/060.html" target=_blank">60</a> - <a href="http://www.frontrowgb.com/new/index.php" target=_blank">STANLEY WATT</a> - (GBR) - KTM 450 RALLY
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/061.html" target=_blank">61</a> - <a href="http://www.brmt.com.br/info.asp" target=_blank">DIMAS MATTOS</a> - (BRA) - KTMKTM 450 RALLY REPLICA
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/062.html" target=_blank">62</a> - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Husaberg-Rallye-Racing-Australia/315347661288?ref=mf" target=_blank">DAVID SCHWARZ</a> - (AUS) - HUSABERG FE450
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/081.html" target=_blank">81</a> - <a href="http://neduro.com/" target=_blank">NED SUESSE</a> - (USA) - KTM 450XCW
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/104.html" target=_blank">104</a> - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/vicentedebenedictis" target=_blank">VICENTE DE BENEDICTIS</a> - (BRA) - BETA RR 450
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/106.html" target=_blank">106</a> - <a href="http://www.theraceshop.com/blog" target=_blank">JAMES EMBRO</a> - (USA) - KTM 450 RALLY
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/107.html" target=_blank">107</a> - <a href="http://vagentilldakar.blogspot.com/" target=_blank">RONNIE BODINGER</a> - (SWE) - HUSABERG FE 450
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/109.html" target=_blank">109</a> - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/people/Arndt-Budweg/100001931384951" target=_blank">ARNDT BUDWEG</a> - (BRA) - KTM 450 RALLY REPLICA
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/113.html" target=_blank">113</a> - RODNEY FAGGOTTER</a> - (AUS) - HUSABERG FE450
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/118.html" target=_blank">118</a> - <a href="http://rallyraidcanada.com/index.html" target=_blank">DONALD HATTON</a> - (CAN) - YAMAHA WR 450
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/147.html" target=_blank">147</a> - <a href="http://www.freedomcyclesinc.com/miscpage_004.asp" target=_blank">MICHAEL STANFIELD</a> - (USA) - KTM 450 EXC
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/150.html" target=_blank">150</a> - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/118563401523453/" target=_blank">LUIS BELAUSTEGUI</a> - (ARG) - KTM XC 150
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/172.html" target=_blank">172</a> - <a href="http://www.ladakar.com/" target=_blank">MANUEL LUCCHESE</a> - (ITA) - HUSABERG FE 450 RALLY
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/180.html" target=_blank">180</a> - <a href="http://www.dakarteamgb.com/" target=_blank">JAGO PICKERING</a> - (GBR) - KTM 450EXC
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/187.html" target=_blank">187</a> - <a href="http://www.dakarteamgb.com/" target=_blank">TOBIAS YOUNGER</a> - (GBR) - KTM 450EXC
<a href="http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/rider/188.html" target=_blank">188</a> - <a href="http://bc2dakar.com/" target=_blank">BILL CONGER</a> - (USA) - HUSQVARNA 449

The full list of entrants can be found here.

Again, a special mention to all who follow and support the riders. Those who go without sleep, clean clothes, or showers and endure the bumpy roads and non-roads helping to keep the riders riding for our enjoyment. Thanks to you!

I'll also give special mention to Carlton Kirby for, in my opinion, excellent Eurosport commentating and lack of fear to dive into the less known and sometimes obscure competitors and story lines.

The Route:

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{edit} i've been notified that PackMule is otherwise unavailable... if it's okay with the other F5 veterans, i'd love to take a stab at handling the cliff notes thread this year. if i miss anything, PM me, and i'll add / edit.

Flood · Dec 31, 2011

Flood said: ↑

Two TV stations are on it:
http://www.c5nenvivo.com.ar/
http://tn.com.ar/envivo/24hs/HD

EDIT: They just showed "el profesor", Luis Belaustegui of Freedomcycles.
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Flood said: ↑

FOX has video on the podium:

http://tevelive.net/foxsports-en-vivo/
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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

Bluebull2007 said: ↑

Sitting in the Dakar competitors photo

Press

Rodrigues with Curtis

Nasser's Hummer

Iain Stevenson - Anxious or relieved?

South African Support Vehicle - Fark I thought the Americans alsways had the biggest kit Alfie Cox can organize.

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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

Flood said: ↑

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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

cvlighthouse said: ↑

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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

cvlighthouse said: ↑

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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

cvlighthouse said: ↑

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misc said: ↑

Hi all,

I'm ready for some action. I prepared the website for the 2012 results. I'm still working on some nice features, but I wanted to let you know I'm back ;-)

You can still navigate to the "old" http://dakar.visser.it/ address, but from now on I will continue the website at http://trackingdakar.nl/.

Ciao and have a great Dakar,

Mischa
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Flood said: ↑

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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

cvlighthouse said: ↑

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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

Carlos M said: ↑

Hi Mischa! Thanks for the effort another time!

People, don't forget to donate something to help Mischa develop new stuff every year!
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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

manuellucchese said: ↑

Hey friends, it was just incredible!!!!! the start was amazing all people going crazy for us and there where literally a river of people was the most exciting thing of my life!!!! on my blog www.ladakar.com i posted a few photos :)

Here is a photo of me trying to get the attention of the argentinian chicks

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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

Bluebull2007 said: ↑

:Jonah Street FB:

Ned's GF is cooking dinner. All packed up relaxing and excited that I will get a goodnights sleep. And finally ready to race. It's going to be a good two weeks.

Nice positive attitude. You go Jonah, You will do well this year.

Looks like the South Africans have had their bikes for the past 40 minutes. They may even be able to squeeze in a little sleep. Before scrutineering, but they will be starting last for sure and maybe with a penalty?

From FB:

Aart Bosman
Hi Iain, we are now 226 kms from Mar del Plata. I think we are appr. At 2100h in Mar del plata to deliver the bikes. at YPF Castelli.
· 3 hours ago ·
Steve Dennehy likes this.

Iain Stevenson Ok Aart we will be waiting... Thank you for all the effort you guys have been amazing
3 hours ago ·

From www.Dakar.com

Luis Belaustegui
Following his debut in last year's Dakar, Argentina's Luis Belaustegui is back aboard his 150 cc KTM with the aim of finishing the race this time round. His new attempt started with the late arrival of his small motorcycle which will now be more recognisable than ever. "I wanted to have my motorcycle painted in Buenos Aires but, since it was delivered late, there was no time left for that! So now I have a multi-coloured motorcycle, without doubt the ugliest in the field! Well, the most important thing is that it performs as well as last year, when only a stage finish outside the time limit prevented me from making it to the end, and only because I was foolish enough to stop to help other pilots all the time. Therefore, this year I have worked with a psychologist to race with a less altruistic mindset..."

He is a living part of the Dakar's history. Winner of the quad category in 2006, Juan Manuel Gonzalez Pedrega' is one of these people who contribute to passing down the history of the event. From now on, it is his experience that he is providing to a new team, in a new role, that of Team manager. He has three quads under his supervision and a new adventure that has taken an Italiano-Uruguayan accent. Luis Henderson, Mauro Almeida and Roberto Tonetti will be racing for the Pedrega Rally Raid Team that was set up during the last Rally of Sardinia and to which the final touches were made after the Rally of Morocco. It is a brand new and up-and-coming team: For 2012, I have three South American bikers who will be riding in the world championships and then the Dakar.

Dimas Mattos
From his lofty vantage point of 6 foot 1, he looks over the maze of scrutineering, reacquainting himself with the atmosphere of the rally and the discussions between bikers. Yet, Dimas Mattos has a weight on his mind: despite 15 years of rally-raids, and finishes in most of them, he still has not completed a Dakar, in which he participated in 2007 and 2009. Worse still, each time, the 47-year old Brazilian injured himself. As a result, his wife forbade him from trying again. However, his enthusiasm helped him find the words to convince her. In 2007, I hurt myself the day before the finish. It took me a year of discussions to convince my wife to let me try again in 2009. But that time, I broke my leg on the second stage so she said, the Dakar is finished for you! This time, it took me 2 years to convince her. My dream is to finish this race which has been out of my grasp so far! In the end, she relented and now she's waiting for me at home praying that it will be the last time! But for me, motorcycling is my life

Great guy is Dimas, he should be an honorary ADV rider. Sounds like he has the same issues I do!
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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

GSNorCal said: ↑

Here are today's official images of Ned, coming via email courtesy of webventure.com.br:

Cheers,
Dave
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Flood said: ↑

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Carlos M said: ↑

Pic by Dave Strydom through facebook

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Flood · Dec 31, 2011

pfb said: ↑

Trimmed start podium video clip of Jonah:
<object width="640" height="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9eav22IWsGw?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9eav22IWsGw?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Trimmed start podium video clip of Ned:
<object width="640" height="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9YbdtPnTRho?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9YbdtPnTRho?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
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kaia · Jan 1, 2012

race starts today! 443 vehicles ready to go.

- official bike start times

Flood · Jan 1, 2012

troy safari carpente said: ↑

Good morning F5'ers!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years Eve 2012 celebration, and no doubt (by the looks of things here) many spent some of it glued to the TV monitors to take in all of the atmosphere of the DAKAR ceremonial start podium ceremony from Plaza Colon in Mar del Plata...

I would just take this opportunity to wish everyone on the DAKAR, and ADV friends here and around the world a very properous and safe 2012!

Great new's that the last of the Sth Africa bikes cleared the wharf/customs and appears at tyhis stage they will make the official start this morning for the first leg of the rally!

Other than that it seems all of the factory guns (both 2 and four wheels) and our own ADV homefavourites have all gone thru the administrative and technical checks (seven quad riders had vehicles that did not conform to the tech verifications... and have been allowed to start, although they will NOT be eligible for the general classification). The competitor briefing having been conducted... all entrants have passed over the ceremonial start podium... now, soon folks it is GAME ON for real !

What's on the F5 menu today....???

Leg 1: Mar del Plata to Santa rosa del Pampa

STAGE MAP

The first moto's leave the parc fermé at the Mar del Plata naval base at 05:45 (argentine local time), and ride (what appears from the map and time schedule) to be approximately 150 kilometer transport section to the start (DSS) of todays special stage;

STAGE PROFILE

Leg 1 special stage is 57 km's in length and we see from the profile is relative flat and fast; starting out with 14 km's of firm soil, then a section of 16 km (along the beachfront) with soft sand and some small dunes (highest point @ 42 meters), before finishing with a 27 km stretch of frim terrain (probably some gravel roads included?)

In the schedule there is an allowed target time of 30 minutes (an average of 114 km/h !!! :eek1). Given that there is the 16 km section of sand in the middle, we can expect the speeds on the beginning and concluding sections to be VERY FAST it would seem!

If the fastest set times around the 30 minute mark... one would expect the tail enders to take perhaps 45 to 50 minutes or more (still average of 75 to 80 km/h... which is fast).

After completing the special stage, they travel from the ASS to the bivouac at Santa Rosa via the second transport connection (approx 600 km) with the first moto's expected to arrive at the bivouac around 15:45 pm local ARG time.

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Flood · Jan 1, 2012

Bluebull2007 said: ↑

I can do better than that.Thanks to Hogwild's training and quite a bit of road book work last year I am pleased to provide you with the details of Stage 1, to a 95% accuracy.

Stage 1:

IL - 139km (may be out by 8%)
SS - 56.9km
FL - 624 km (may be out by 2%)

The special starts close to the close and then follows the shoreline on a shelf about 8-12 metres above the beach. Pilots will need to take it easy of they could go off a cliff in places! At one point they ride past a weird stature that looks like Star Wars Jaja Binx staring out over the sea. WTF?? The road is relatively fast, hard packed in places with sand on top, and loamy with rocks and sand. The road hugs the coast for some distance and for a bit they will actually be riding on the beach of the Atlantic. About half way through the stage the route gets fairly whooped out and they enter into a dune field which is a beach playground for the locals, not unlike Atlantis in Cape Town, only with bigger dunes. The route should take them straight through the biggest dunes in the area, before cutting over the back onto long straight farm roads which will suit the faster bikes tremendously.

Note the 8m drop to the left of the road!

The dune section

Here is that drop off. The route follows the edge of a drop-off like this for about 10-15km.

Jaja Binx Statue, specially for Troy and the Dakar Wars! Should be ins the WTF thread?!

Here is a good idea of the road condition, gonna be FUN!

Entering the dune section

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Flood · Jan 1, 2012

misc said: ↑

Hehe... for them who have difficulties on trackingdakar.nl some explanation about the filtering. Like i sais in previous message i need make them more user friendly, but my focus was on getting things up and running again.

In the field country you can type a country to filter on. Default is NLD for Netherlands. You can enter a few countries there seperated by commas. If you press enter after typing you don't have to think about the stupid buttons ;-)

The driver field works the same way. Enter the numbers of your favorite drivers seperated by commas and they will be highlighted.

If you wanna see more results you can type * in the country field and press enter. This site wasn't meant to become so popular, so there is no way yet to skip to 50+. You will have to filter on the driver numbers still. I'll see if I can fix that later this week.

Good luck,
Mischa
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Bluebull2007 said: ↑

From the Dakar.co:

Cody gets his strength back

After his big pre-race scare, after his Honda motorcycle was shipped by air from the USA to Peru by mistake, American Quinn Cody has started the rally in a spectacular fashion, climbing to a provisional third place in the GC of the 2012 Dakar. Since the last time check, positions have changed behind the Top 3, with López and Coma at the helm. The American's no. 9 Honda, currently in third, is immediately followed by the KTMs of Kuba Przygonsky (POL) and Ruben Faria (PRT). Cyril Despres lies seventh, ahead of Portugal's Hélder Rodrigues (Yamaha) and Paulo Gonçalves (Husqvarna).
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Flood · Jan 1, 2012

Bluebull2007 said: ↑

Im still amazed by the story how the South African got their bikes in at No. 99.

Here are the details via twitter and FB entries:

From Aart Bosman (loosely translated):
"At 15. 30 we were finished loading of the engines and boxes of the riders. At 16: 00 we left the heavily packed Buenos Aires. En route via various police checks and exchanging caps, T-shirts and lots of keyholders, Erik arrived at 20. 45 to jubilent celebration from heavily emotional drivers. It showed it been worth all the effort.
On arrival at Mar del Plata we started immediately getting the biks race ready. Here we are receiving support from the KTM- factory team who are preparing two of the bikes.
Tomorrow the Dakar rally starts in Mar del Plata with the first stage to Santa Rosa. The assistance team departures at around 3. 00 local time direction Santa Rosa"

From Darryl and Iain:
"It's been a late night we've just had 2 hrs sleep we got the bikes ready with the assistance of Marc Coma and Cyril Depres mechanics.... We've caused quite a stir in the Bivouac with are exploits... The Dakar organizers have been very accommodating allowing us to start"
Looks like we're a go!

Rumour is that the South African team has been asked to tackle the European economic crisis next. Should be easy enough after the Dakar start miracle.....

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Flood · Jan 1, 2012

Brimstone said: ↑

13:31 Bikes: Francisco 'Chaleco' López shows his form!
Chile's Francisco López (Aprilia) commands the motorcycle classification at the end of the first special stage. The rider with race number 4 crossed the finish line with a time of 32'37' seconds, besting the 2011 Dakar champion, Spaniard Marc Coma (KTM), by 14', Norwegian Ullevalseter (KTM) by 1'41', Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM) by 1'48' and Portuguese Hélder Rodrigues by 1'51'.
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Bluebull2007 said: ↑

From Dakar.com, Stage 1 quotes:

Lopez:

I was very careful...

I did not get off to a very fast start this morning, since the first part of the special stage was quite tough, with all the dunes and all those spectators. Moreover, the first special of the Dakar is always more challenging, since you need to find your focus on the race, and the new GPS is somewhat smaller, so I really was very careful. Fortunately, the special's last 20 kilometres were very fast and I was able to drive much more aggressively.

Despres

I kept it cool at the beginning!

I am happy to start, to ride my motorcycle, to see my roadbook and notes again... I just need to get used to it again... I took this special quite cautiously because there were a lot of potholes, fesh-fesh, dust... and spectators, so I kept it cool at the beginning!
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Flood · Jan 1, 2012

neduro said: ↑

First special was fun but short. I'm geared too high for the sand and ico quit out of the gate, otherwise everything is perfect. At 2nd gas now, putting in headphones, now for some boring.
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Flood said: ↑

@rallypanam
Caught up w/ Jonah after the special & he did the sickest standup wheelie he's ever done. Oh yeah, & he rode the special pretty good too.
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