#Dakar2015 - HALFWAY, NOW FOR WEEK 2! The 2015 Dakar Rally has reached the halfway mark - it might not be in the exact kilometres, but in time and while the motorcycles/quads had a rest day on Saturday, the cars and truck are enjoying their day off today after two Marathon Stages. The bikes/quads are taking on the second part of their marathon stage today after they had to work on their own bikes/quads last night. Looking back at Stage 7 (Sunday, 11 Jan): It sounds like it was a hectic day for the riders - it was extremely cold; the rivers were flooded and there were thunderstorms and to top it all, riders raced at a height of 3500m that caused headaches. QUADS: Hannes Saaijman (Team Rhide SA Yamaha) finished the stage in 10th place and kept his 11th place overall. He wouldve tried to race safe as flat tyres (and only one spare) could mean problems on the Marathon Stage. BIKES: Riaan van Niekerk (Broadlink KTM) posted his best result so far and finished 10th. This result pushed him to the 12th place on the overall standings (see press releases) David Reeve (KTM) had everyone scared when he disappeared off the results after WP4. It mustve been problems with his tracker system as he finished the stage in 47th place to keep his 43rd place overall. Iron Man Albert Hintenaus, who is competing in Malle Moto - the Marathon Stage was therefore normal to him! - had some problems during the stage (he almost lost his KTM in a river and suspected that there might be water in the engine oil), but he still managed to finish 66th and move up three positions on the overall standings where he is now 56th overall. He is still third in Malle Moto. WESSEL BOSMAN: Some news on this tough rider - he wrote: I am in Iqueque now and I am well! I had very hard last four days with spending two nights in the desert, both nights extremely cold. The last night was on sharp rocks that cut the space blsnket and had to wait for the sun to warmed me up before I could continued. Then my battery was dead from the iritrack because the organization wanted to keep track if I was ok... The organization sent a helicopter and doctors to bring me a new battery to start my bike. I must thank the Dakar organization for there special care to get the last motorbike rider safely back to the bivoac! CARS (Stage 8): Giniel de Villiers (Imperial Toyota Hilux) had a flat tyre caused by a rock when he veered off the road when the helicopter landed next to them. They could not see anything due to the dust. He still finished fourth and made up some time on the race leader, Nasser Al-Attiyha (MINI) - only 8:27 separates them. Leeroy Poulter/Rob Howie (Imperial Toyota Hilux) finished the stage in 22nd place. He moved up to the 17th place. The privateer team, Johan van Staden and Mike Lawrenson, also had another steady result. They finished 41st in their Nissan Navara and is 33rd overall. (Read more about them here: https://facebook/teamjohanandmikedonaldsoncrosscountrycompetitors)
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:36:16 +0000
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