Dakar Rally Is On

[gregory]

Dakar rally is ON!

To freaking bad all I get is highlighs of the days stage.

 

[BkerChuck]

NBCSN is showing highlights at 6 or 6:30 EST in my area. If you're not already a member sign up on ADVrider.com for the coverage they offer. Folks on there go absolutely nuts for Dakar. It's like this place during the Iron Butt Rally! As of last night before I went to bed the Dakar race thread was past 40 pages and growing.

 

[russperry]

Make that 73 pages as of this afternoon.....

 

[gregory]

Yea, I follow both, but it is frustrating that I can't get anything more than the "high lights"

Can't wait to see the footage, but it looks like Borata is out?

 

[BkerChuck]

From what I've read it may be possible to install an app on your computer to allow streaming from one of the European TV networks offering more coverage but my foreign language skills are........well, let's just call it nonexistent and be done with it.I believe Barreda is out from what I've read this morning. I'm a little disappointed in how little coverage is being done with Malle Moto or I think this year it's called Motul Originals. That's the class for bikes with NO outside support where the rider must do all of their own maintenance at the bivouac each night after riding. I followed Lyndon Pynchon last year on YouTube as he rode that class and found it pretty interesting.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Thanks for the heads-up, gregory; I binged on 3 hours of fantastic scenery last night, and am looking forward to a week's worth of more fantastic scenery. Oh yeah, and watching the huge trucks wallow through all that fantastic scenery.

Honestly, I couldn't care less about the race; it's mesmerizing to watch the motorbikes slithering across dunes or blasting through dry riverbeds. When you realize they're going fast, really, really fast*, it makes you sit back and wonder how those guys would handle one of our Hooterville rides. By the way, motorcycles are limited to 450cc, one or two cylinders.

BkerChuck's comment: I'm a little disappointed in how little coverage is being done with Malle Moto or I think this year it's called Motul Originals. That's the class for bikes with NO outside support where the rider must do all of their own maintenance at the bivouac each night after riding.

My guess? There's no real sponsorship money in that class. Promoters will reserve screen time to pump up sponsors in the hope they'll return next year.

______________________________

* I tried calculating an average speed. The Stage 1 results page (https://www.dakar.com/en/rankings/stage-1) says moto competitors traveled 331 km, and that Joan Barreda came in first with an elapsed time of 57:36. That's an average speed over 300 kmh (185 mph) which is twice as fast as the 89.52 mph fastest superbike lap at Laguna Seca. Am I supposed to believe these maniacs ride across unmarked virgin desert faster than Wayne Rainey on asphalt?

Well, I'm not believing that.

For stage 4, the moto classification rode 511 km, with the leader at 3:40:30. That works out to 90.0 kmh and 56.0 mph, which is credible -- barely -- and VERY FAST for riding across natural terrain. We need to invite Ricky Brabec (the American) to enjoy EOM with us!

 

[sullivan]

I agree that the "highlights" shown on Spectrum 65 (NBCSN) is not enough. But I thank them for even showing this type of event. Also, thanks for this thread for my annual reminder that the event is happening.

 

[sullivan]

And yes to the trucks. Always get a kick out of watching youtube european truck rallycross events. Would be cool to have a MANS commercial truck sitting in my driveway, or with an FJR hydraulic lift in the back.

 

[Uncle Hud]

+1 for a Dakar truck in the driveway with an FJR lift in the back. I'd be a rolling party machine! (Absolutely would require all the Red Bull and etc sponsor stickers everywhere.)

By the way, Stage 7 (trucks) was won by a Russian Kamaz that went 575 km in 4:38. That's 124 kmh, or 77 mph. That hulking mass of truck, with three passengers, was screaming through desert and sand dune.

Yeehaw! Check out this

...

 

[gregory]

I could use a Kamaz in traffic around here........JSNS

 

[Niehart]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=2019+dakar+rally

 

[Pterodactyl]

Ricky Brabec, the US rider who was in the overall lead after stage six, is out of the race. The engine on his Honda failed in the early kilometers of stage seven.

 

[Niehart]

Again. They can't keep that Honda motor alive for the whole race.

Fesh Fesh

is now a dirty, sandy, dusty motor killing word.

 

[gregory]

So bummed for Ricky, he was having such a great run.

 

[BkerChuck]

I was kind of rooting for Ricky. Dakar is not very familiar to a lot of folks in the US and it was cool seeing one of our countrymen doing as well as what he was doing. Just saw latest on ADV rider that they've now DQ'd Nicola Dutto the paraplegic rider. If you read the details and everything is as presented race organizers absolutely screwed the pooch on this decision.

https://advrider.com/dakar-outrage-paraplegic-rider-nicola-dutto-disqualified/

To call this decision disappointing is an understatement to say the least. While I think even Nicola understood his chance of winning to be almost impossible Dakar is the sort of event where just finishing is winning for many riders.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Bummer for Ricky, indeed. So frustrating to fail when its not directly your fault.

 

[KevinLewis]

Bummer for Ricky, indeed. So frustrating to fail when its not directly your fault.

But you can't deny the fact that the most important he won it. 

 

[Bounce]

Zombie threads. Die and return.