Dakar 2014 - Official Event Coverage - thank you all, lurkers and posters!!!

From Clayton Jacobsens FB page

https://www.facebook.com/claytondakar2014

YES!!! Bueno and Mucho Gracias!! Both DVRs set, kids and wife, start yer bitchin.

Escale twins are towing one of the bikes and still on SS. As stated a long first day to start Dakar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY4TvOh6eto&feature=youtu.be

Dakar original music theme: Wock - Sama Amie

Cyril Depres-

"I got a bit emotional..."

"A winding special with lots of breaking and accelerating. 180 km of this was a great way to get the ball rolling! I took some time to find my bearings and ease into my pace. The first special is always tough when you come from cold Europe and you get thrown into the thick of things, so I'm happy to get good feelings. I got a bit emotional at the start, what with starting a new adventure... It was a difficult year, with the decision to move to Yamaha, and then having to prepare the motorcycle, working with the entire team... So when D-Day comes, it feels good to be racing again."

Duclos-

Important to hitch myself to the right wagon..."

"I'm over the moon because I had lots of fun, my Sherco didn't miss a beat and it was a real pleasure to ride on this type of course, where it almost rides itself. In short: fun, speed and a nice bonus at the finish with this result! It was important for me to do well from the beginning in order to hitch myself to the right wagon for upcoming stages.

Barreda-

"I'll try to keep it up"

"I'm really happy with the first stage. At the beginning I had some trouble easing into the race due to a slight problem with the suspension, but afterwards everything went smoothly. We'll work on it to ride even faster tomorrow. I'll try to keep up this pace in the next few stages."



Coma-

"I took things easy"

"First days at the Dakar are never easy. It's difficult to find and maintain your pace straight away. So I took things fairly easy and, as the day wore on, I got the right feelings and found the right pace. All things considered, I'm happy because it's important to clear the first stage without running into trouble, and that's just what I did."


Goncalves-

"Everything's going to plan for me and Honda"

"It was quite difficult for a first special, with a very slippery and tricky 180 km course, especially on the mountain sides: if you fall there, you're going all the way down! So I decided to take it easy at the beginning, but little by little I eased into the pace and gained some confidence. At the end I accelerated and posted the fifth best time on the finish line. I'm happy because my teammate Joan Barreda won the stage, which means I'll start just behind him tomorrow and we'll be able to work as a team. So everything's going to plan for me and Honda."

Aussies are going ok, Grabham +4'50 and Deiner +21'00"
But Troy O'Conner is only just behind Deiner at +21'30" which is non too shabby either !

I'm well impressed with Allan coming in at +34'29" He finished two hours ahead of me earlier this year at the Condo 750 which is a two day event so I'm really interested to see how his speed stacks up over the course of the rally

Clayton Jacobsen finished +54'10"
And Mark Davidson came in at +1.00'6"

Easy stage I guess and the last three are all in it just for a finish but it's good to see them all getting along and not stuck by the side of the road

Neil

What's the go with the Kawasaki's this year, only 5 in total and after D1 3 are coming 54, 55 and 56 place, must be riding as a team.

Cheers Fogo...

<table id="resplive" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="even fin track" title="081 BELTRAMI FRANCESCO (ITA) on ASS at +01:48:46 (167)"><td>167</td><td>(174)</td><td>081 - BELTRAMI FRANCESCO (ITA)
</td><td> HM 450
</td><td>12:14:15</td><td>(174)</td><td>+00:11:50</td><td>(155)</td><td class="slow">+01:48:46</td></tr></tbody></table><table id="resplive" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="even fin track" title="137 PERALTA CRISTIAN (CHL) on ASS at +02:41:08 (171)"><td>171</td><td>(125)</td><td>137 - PERALTA CRISTIAN (CHL)
</td><td> HONDA CRF X 450 CC
</td><td>11:22:00</td><td>(125)</td><td class="slow">+00:13:04</td><td class="slow">(160)</td><td class="prob">+02:41:08</td></tr><tr class="odd fin" title="096 ESCALE ORIOL (ESP) on ASS at +02:54:07 (172)"><td>172</td><td>(87)</td><td>096 - ESCALE ORIOL (ESP)
</td><td>

</td><td>11:12:30</td><td>(87)</td><td class="prob">+01:02:52</td><td class="prob">(173)</td><td class="fast">+02:54:07</td></tr></tbody></table><table id="resplive" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="even fin" title="178 LIBRALESSO PAOLO (ITA) on ASS at +02:38:48 (171)"><td>171</td><td>(157)</td><td>178 - LIBRALESSO PAOLO (ITA)
</td><td> WRF450 FPR
</td><td>11:30:00</td><td>(157)</td><td>+00:09:57</td><td>(148)</td><td class="prob">+02:38:48</td></tr></tbody></table>
Hopefully Oriol has not had to abandon Gilbert and he & Fred are nearly to ASS! But yeah, might as well:

Looks like Oriol is in, Gilbert still on SS (or timing isn't transferred yet
Frederic still on SS also, only those two should come in now.

*edit: well, that's my first penalty

eurosport int is ON

open the page url in vlc and record it

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZY4TvOh6eto" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Faria:





"I didn't bother much with this first stage, rode in a cautious pace without making mistakes and this 12th position may be important to get a good result tomorrow where we face the first dunes in a special timed with twice the miles that we had today . "

I'm on a back foot a little.

I cast my vote against separating talk about cars and trucks from the main firehose.
Things will even themselves on their own.
Fight the power!


Can anyone interpret the 10 and 20 minutes gaps from the first few to some fast contenders on a short special?
Was the terrain difficult?
(please don't say it's a long race)*

News on the stage 1 results from KTM's perspective

http://www.ktm.com/news-events/news/all/details/coma-finishes-close-second-in-dakar-st-1.html#.Usm509JdXE1

I understand why it seems like a good idea but I think it will be difficult to execute effectively. There has been some good crossover chat in the past in the F5irehose and I for one will miss that. Maybe it's progress though, we'll see....

Dayum!
3rd Firefox crash of the stage!

Now thats just mean

The f5irehose is where all flows together. We're naturally most interested in the bikes, but if something comes up in the other classes (everybody loves the trucks! nobody cares for the quads!), it'll find its place here too.