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Dakar 2009: Day 2-Team Honda Europe Well Under Way |
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File under Dakar Race Honda
Author: Honda Press Release
Location: Normandy, France
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The second day in the Dakar went well for the team. At 18.00 hours local time all riders were in the bivouac. There were some crashes here and there, but without further consequences. Teammanager Henk Hellegers: "Another day passed. You can see that quit a few of the bikes are getting hammered, I've seen a lot with damages. I keep telling our riders not to take any unnecessary risks in this part of the rally. The time to be won isn't worth these risks. That will come later.''
Sunday January 4th: Santa Rosa - Puerto Madryn Total 837 km. I 237 km. special I 600 km. liaison
The stage was a little shorter than yesterday, and started right from the bivouac. The first 100 kilometers were very dangerous due to all the dust thrown up by the riders.
Mick Extance (31st in the special, 41st the general ranking): "The second part was quit enjoyable. I survived the day without crashes. Hopefully the worst with the dust is behind us. Mirjam showed me the right direction a couple of times, I basically just followed her.''
 Krzysztof JARMUZ |
Christopher Jarmuz (49th in the special, 39th in the general ranking): "I lost 15 minutes today, because I got lost. We were riding through these fields with fences, it was a matter of finding the right passage to get through and I took too long. Navigation was quit hard from time to time. It was easy to crash today, luckily that didn't happen to me."
 Mirjam POL |
Mirjam Pol (54th in the special, 44th in the general ranking) is finding her rhythm. Although she was a little lucky when she went headfirst over the handlebars and damaged her bike missing a hole. "Around kilometer 110 I was following a slow path. Suddenly there was a big hole, which wasn´t mentioned in the roadbook. I dove in going 40, and went off the bike. Luckily I was o.k., but the bike wasn´t so lucky. A broken rear fueltank, exhaustpipe flattened, and the navigation equipment damaged. Later today Jurgen crashed also at exactly the same spot. I think there was somebody lying on the ground every 10 meters."
 Jurgen VAN DEN GOORBERGH |
Jurgen van den Goorbergh (59th in the special, 55th in the general ranking) "I don't hope it will stay like this in the Dakar, because today was not so enjoyable. I was full in the dust the first 100 kilometers. When I crashed in the same hole as Mirjam I landed hard on my head. I got up right away and put the bike up again. The bike was fine. A bit later I saw Kees lying in the middle of the track. I had to break hard and fell down in the dust. Together we put his bike up and continued. On the liaison I enjoyed a very nice coca-cola together with Vadim, it was extremely warm this afternoon. On the cp's we were able to get extra water, I drank about 5 liters today. I'm pretty sure things will get better when we have these first few days behind us."
Kees Koolen: (66th in the special, 56th in the general ranking) "It was completely different from yesterday. I took it easy, as you could see nothing in the dust. I didn't get a starting card, so we had some discussions at the first cp."
 Vadim PRITULYAK |
Vadim Pritulyak: (109th in the special, 98th in the general ranking) "I saw several heavy crashes today, people who were struggling in the soft sand. I often crash when it's easy, and seldom when the stage is tough. Today I didn't crash."
Monday January 5th: Puerto Madryn - Ingeniero Jacobacci. | Liaison 69,98 km. I special 550,79 km. I Liaison 72,81 km.
One of the longer specials in the rally. We enter Patagonia, a different type of terrain for the competitors. A lot of rocks and gravel, and according to the organization especially the bikes can expect a tough day.
Via: Honda Dakar
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