Pro 2013 Dakar Rally

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Lopez Leads Dakar, Kurt Caselli 32nd!

The Dakar Rally Gets Rolling
Tamarugal Racing's Francisco Lopez won today's opening stage of the Dakar Rally on his KTM by topping Holland's Frans Verhoeven by a second in the short special stage at the end of the run from Lima, Peru to Pisco. The stage win was the seventh of Lopez's Dakar career.
With Lopez leading Yamaha of Netherlands' Verhoeven by just a second after the first day of competition, Chilean Pablo Quintanilla sits third on his Artisa Racing Honda CRF450X. Quintanilla is just five seconds off Lopez and six seconds ahead of countryman Patricio Cabrera, the second rider from Chili in the top five riding a Kawasaki.
Race favorite and defending champion Cyril Despres ended the opening day of this year's rally in fifth place and just 13 seconds off the lead. He is some four seconds ahead of his Red Bull KTM teammate Ruben Faria.
Red Bull KTM's Kurt Caselli had a smooth first day in the rally, the AMA Hare & Hound Champion ending the day in 32nd place and an even minute off the leader. Caselli was 17 spots ahead of countryman Honda's Johnny Campbell, the Californian ending day one in 49th place.
The race gets going in earnest tomorrow with some 150 miles of racing.​
 
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Barreda Wins Dakar Stage 2; Caselli 5th!

Joan Barreda puts Husky on top
Team Husqvarna by Speedbrain's Joan Barreda won the Pisco-Pisco second stage of theDakar Rally today, the 204-mile route including some 150 miles of special test. With the stage win, the second of his Dakar career, Barreda moved into the overall lead of the rally.
Barreda and his Husky TE449RR set a fast pace from the get-go and the Spaniard was able to maintain his speed to finish some three minutes ahead of his countryman Juan Pedrero on the MRW Rally Team KTM. To make things even better for the Speedbrain team, Barreda's Australian teammate Matt Fish finished the stage in third place.
Fourth today went to Red Bull KTM's Ruben Faria, the Portuguese rider ending up six minutes and 26 seconds behind Barreda.
Red Bull KTM's Kurt Caselli went to the Dakar Rally as a replacement rider for injured legend Marc Coma. He's there to learn the ropes of big-time rally racing and apparently he's a faster learner as he finished fifth in today's stage to move to 11th overall in his Dakar debut. Caselli ended up seven minutes and 10 seconds behind Barreda and 9:45 behind him in the overall standings after two stages.
Faria is second to Barreda in the overall standings, 5:36 behind. Pedrero is third, another minute off Barreda's pace. David Casteu and defending Dakar Champion Cyril Despres round out the top five overall.

Tomorrow's third stage will be the Pisco Nazca run of 214 miles.
"A really tough stage, but I'm really pleased with the way I raced," Barreda said. "By the time we were 100 km into the race, I was in command and I set my own pace to the finish line. I wanted to get away fast and that's what I did. The bike is perfect and the team are doing a great job."
Honda's Johnny Campbell finished 33rd in today's stage. He is 35th overall.
"It was a 100 percent sandy stage, with some difficult dunes as they were very steep in the back and I had to be careful with the gas," Campbell said in a Honda release. "Like many of us, I lost some precious time at km 74 to validate the waypoint, then I found the correct direction and I caught several riders. I stopped to help Juan Carlos [Salvatierra], a Honda private rider from Bolivia, and then I continued. In the last 30 km it was a good fun to battle with five riders as we were attacking and passing each other back and forth."​
 
rezrider

rezrider

CDA:
Lopez Leads Dakar, Kurt Caselli 32nd!

The Dakar Rally Gets Rolling
Tamarugal Racing's Francisco Lopez won today's opening stage of the Dakar Rally on his KTM by topping Holland's Frans Verhoeven by a second in the short special stage at the end of the run from Lima, Peru to Pisco. The stage win was the seventh of Lopez's Dakar career.​
With Lopez leading Yamaha of Netherlands' Verhoeven by just a second after the first day of competition, Chilean Pablo Quintanilla sits third on his Artisa Racing Honda CRF450X. Quintanilla is just five seconds off Lopez and six seconds ahead of countryman Patricio Cabrera, the second rider from Chili in the top five riding a Kawasaki.​
Race favorite and defending champion Cyril Despres ended the opening day of this year's rally in fifth place and just 13 seconds off the lead. He is some four seconds ahead of his Red Bull KTM teammate Ruben Faria.​
Red Bull KTM's Kurt Caselli had a smooth first day in the rally, the AMA Hare & Hound Champion ending the day in 32nd place and an even minute off the leader. Caselli was 17 spots ahead of countryman Honda's Johnny Campbell, the Californian ending day one in 49th place.​
The race gets going in earnest tomorrow with some 150 miles of racing.​
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CDA:
Barreda Wins Dakar Stage 2; Caselli 5th!

Joan Barreda puts Husky on top
Team Husqvarna by Speedbrain's Joan Barreda won the Pisco-Pisco second stage of theDakar Rally today, the 204-mile route including some 150 miles of special test. With the stage win, the second of his Dakar career, Barreda moved into the overall lead of the rally.​
Barreda and his Husky TE449RR set a fast pace from the get-go and the Spaniard was able to maintain his speed to finish some three minutes ahead of his countryman Juan Pedrero on the MRW Rally Team KTM. To make things even better for the Speedbrain team, Barreda's Australian teammate Matt Fish finished the stage in third place.​
Fourth today went to Red Bull KTM's Ruben Faria, the Portuguese rider ending up six minutes and 26 seconds behind Barreda.​
Red Bull KTM's Kurt Caselli went to the Dakar Rally as a replacement rider for injured legend Marc Coma. He's there to learn the ropes of big-time rally racing and apparently he's a faster learner as he finished fifth in today's stage to move to 11th overall in his Dakar debut. Caselli ended up seven minutes and 10 seconds behind Barreda and 9:45 behind him in the overall standings after two stages.​
Faria is second to Barreda in the overall standings, 5:36 behind. Pedrero is third, another minute off Barreda's pace. David Casteu and defending Dakar Champion Cyril Despres round out the top five overall.​
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Tomorrow's third stage will be the Pisco Nazca run of 214 miles.​
"A really tough stage, but I'm really pleased with the way I raced," Barreda said. "By the time we were 100 km into the race, I was in command and I set my own pace to the finish line. I wanted to get away fast and that's what I did. The bike is perfect and the team are doing a great job."​
Honda's Johnny Campbell finished 33rd in today's stage. He is 35th overall.​
"It was a 100 percent sandy stage, with some difficult dunes as they were very steep in the back and I had to be careful with the gas," Campbell said in a Honda release. "Like many of us, I lost some precious time at km 74 to validate the waypoint, then I found the correct direction and I caught several riders. I stopped to help Juan Carlos [Salvatierra], a Honda private rider from Bolivia, and then I continued. In the last 30 km it was a good fun to battle with five riders as we were attacking and passing each other back and forth."​
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I can root for KTM since Husabergs bleed Orange blood.... :smirk:....... :devil: .... well, kinda!


Way to go JC... for helping out a fellow rider!!! :thumb: so maybe he was a Honda rider, he still helped!
 
freds40

freds40

I've been following the race a bit. Really impressed with Robby Gordon. Saw him in 129th place at one point (IIRC) and he's now up to 13th place overall. Amazing how quick that can turn around.
 
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Lopez Wins Stage 3, Despres Takes Dakar Lead

Cyril Despres at the top
It didn't take too long for normality to return to the Dakar Rally and normal in the world's biggest rally usually translates to a Red Bull KTM at the top of the overall standings. Although he didn't win today's stage from Pisca to Nazca in Peru, four-time Dakar winner Cyril Despresdid take over at the top of the overall standings after three stages of the race.
Despres finished third today in a stage that started in the big, steep sand dunes before moving to the rolling terrain of Peru en route to Nazca. The stage was won by Francesco "Chaleco" Lopez, the Tamarugal Racing XC KTM rider winning his second stage of this year's rally and the fifth of his career after starting the day in 30th. Today's win followed his 28th in yesterday's stage and bumped the Chilean rider up to second in the overall standings - two minutes and 51 seconds behind Despres.
Third place today went to Husqvarna Rally Team by Speedbrain's Paulo Goncalves, the Portuguese rider having his best day thus far in the rally. The result bumped Goncalves up 31 spots in the overall standings to 16th as he fights back from a 15-minute time penalty from yesterday's stage.
Third place overall is now held by Team Ullevalseter's Pal Anders Ullevalseter, the Norwegian rider methodically working his way up through the standings.
The three KTMs are being chased in the overall standings by the two Yamahas ridden by Frenchman Olivier Pain and David Casteau, respectively. The pair are separated by just five seconds and they trail Despres by a few ticks over six minutes.
Despres' American teammate Kurt Caselli slid down the standings a little bit today, the Californian ending up 30th in today's third stage to drop to 19th overall. He is 20 minutes and 34 seconds behind Despres.
If Caselli slid down the standings a little bit, then Joan Barreda freefalled. Yesterday's stage winner and the overall leader going into today's stage dropped all the way to 18th overall after finishing today's stage outside the top 40.
Barreda's Australian teammate Matt Fish also had a rough day, the Husky rider getting stuck in the sand dunes and losing over five minutes. He ended up 40th on the day and dropped to 31st overall. Fish was third in yesterday's stage and sat sixth going into today's run.
The second American in the race, Honda's Johnny Campbell, suffered with mechanical problems today at the just the six-mile mark. He was working to fix the problem, but has yet to finish the stage.
Ruben Faria, Despres' main support rider, also had a technical problem that cost him some 10 minutes. The Portuguese rider, who was second overall after yesterday's stage, dropped to 11th after finishing 24th today.​
 
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Campbell Has Tough Day At Dakar

Johnny Campbell drops down the standings
Honda's Johnny Campbell had a miserable day in stage three of the Dakar Rally today, the Californian having to replace a fuel pump on the course. He ended up 158th in the stage and dropped to 146th in the overall standings.
"It was supposed to be a short day, but it became a long one for me," Campbell said. "Early in the stage the bike had some hesitations and at km 20 I had to stop and diagnose the problem. It was an issue with the fuel pump and I had to replace it. It took me a long time to fix the problem. Then the bike was okay, but after 140 km I was struggling again with the machine so I had to ride conservative to finish the stage and arrive at the bivouac."​
 
rezrider

rezrider

CDA:
Campbell Has Tough Day At Dakar

Johnny Campbell drops down the standings
Honda's Johnny Campbell had a miserable day in stage three of the Dakar Rally today, the Californian having to replace a fuel pump on the course. He ended up 158th in the stage and dropped to 146th in the overall standings.​
"It was supposed to be a short day, but it became a long one for me," Campbell said. "Early in the stage the bike had some hesitations and at km 20 I had to stop and diagnose the problem. It was an issue with the fuel pump and I had to replace it. It took me a long time to fix the problem. Then the bike was okay, but after 140 km I was struggling again with the machine so I had to ride conservative to finish the stage and arrive at the bivouac."​
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They interviewed him after stage 1, he sounded like he was riding very cautious since it is his first time there (I believe) and was concerned abotu the huge azz dunes and what was on the other side.. he said many of them were steeper on the far side causing him to have to slow down before cresting makign it tougher to get to the top...
 
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rezrider:
They interviewed him after stage 1, he sounded like he was riding very cautious since it is his first time there (I believe) and was concerned abotu the huge azz dunes and what was on the other side.. he said many of them were steeper on the far side causing him to have to slow down before cresting makign it tougher to get to the top...
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Yeap him and Kurt are there for the first time. Kurt is just there as a filler and is gaining experience for future Dakars.

I always wanted to do this race. Props to those guys.
 
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Olivier Pain Still Leads Dakar Rally

Plenty Of Pain In This Year's Rally
Some late-sleeping Kurt Caselli fans might have woken up to see that the Red Bull KTM rider was leading the overall standings of the Dakar Rally. Turns out it was some misinformation on the official website of the race, but it was fun while it lasted.
Caselli ended up 20th today and he sits 19th in the overall standings after the fifth stage of the race. Yamaha's David Casteau won today's stage - a 255-mile ride over a mix of rocky ground, hard pack and just six miles of sand that made up the 85 miles of timed special - over his teammate Olivier Pain as the Yamaha team is starting to make a serious mark on the world's toughest rally.
Although Casteau won the stage (the third of his career), it's Pain who leads the overall standings with the Yamaha men one-two after five days of racing. Pain leads Casteau by one minute and 15 seconds with defending race champion and four-time Dakar winner Cyril Despres third - six minutes and seven seconds behind Pain.
Third in today's stage went to Juan Pedrero on the KTM MRW Rally KTM, the Spaniard bouncing back after two rough days in the rally. Pedrero finished second in the second stage of the rally and was third overall at the time, but has since slipped down the standings. Today's effort helped his cause and he not sits 21st overall.
Today's hard luck story goes to Joan Barreda, the Husqvarna Rallye Team By Speedbrain rider who won yesterday's stage and climbed back to fourth in the overall standings after slipping back to 18th the day before. Today the Spaniard ended up dead last to basically ruin his chances of a top finish. The Husky rider suffered a mechanical problem at the 72 km mark and repairs left him some three hours off the pace today. Barreda is now 54th overall.
Honda's Johnny Campbell finished today's stage in 25th place and that moved him from 120th overall to 99th.​
 
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