Posted on 01/03/2005 10:31:05 AM PST by Fierce Allegiance
Bikes on a halt, Gordon impresses!
The first African stage of the Telefonica Dakar 2005 ended up in a long liaison for the bikers after the short 123km special was cancelled due to heavy fog. Meanwhile on four wheels, in better conditions, Robby Gordon clinched his second Dakar victory ahead of Peterhansel, proving once again how well he had adapted to the rally and how impressive his Volkswagen Race Touareg was. In the truck race, Vladimir Tchaguine is already on top of the leader board.
The rally left Europe and Spain under beautiful sunny conditions, but for the start of the first real African stage, the weather had completely changed with heavy fog on the Rabat area. Impossible in the early hours of the day for the helicopters to take off (including the medical helicopters) and for the bikers to compete in perfect security a special that would have also been dangerous because of the very poor visibility! Safety being the key issue on the rally… The same incident had already happened back in 1994 when the conditions forced the organisers to also cancel a special. All bikers were therefore asked to head to CP 1 (km 63) nice and easily in a liaison before using a normal asphalt road all the way to the Agadir bivouac. Certainly a big disappointment for overall leader David Frétigné (YAM – n°12) who would have gone through a nice first test against the KTM armada.
Two and a half hours later, the fog had disappeared and the weather was perfect for the cars to take off for their 123km special. The first man to take off was yesterday’s special winner Colin McRae, but the Scotsman was rapidly caught by his main race contenders. At CP1 (km 63), the best time was for the ever-surprising Robby Gordon (VW – n°317). For his very first Dakar and in an impressive Volkswagen Race Touareg, the US driver (who left in 5th spot) flew to special victory, clocking best times at both the second CP (km 88) and the finish line. Gordon clinches his second win on the rally after the Barcelona super special although this one is way more significant on a longer distance and in real Dakar rally conditions. The former NASCAR racer who had overtaken De Villiers (NIS – 314) early in the race, could have done even better if he hadn’t been forced to remain behind Ari Vatanen’s Nissan (n°311) during the last 20kms of the special where overtaking became very tricky. Gordon’s closest rival on the day was last year’s winner Stephane Peterhansel (MIT – n°306), finishing just under a minute behind. After the Nissan show in yesterday’s Granada special with 3 Pickups in the leading four, it was Volkswagen’s turn to impress with their four Touaregs in the leading seven cars. Bruno Saby (VW – n°307) captured third spot while Jutta Kleinschmidt (VW – n°310) finished fifth and Juha Kankkunen (VW – n°313) seventh. And to add to the German brand’s excellent day, Robby Gordon claimed the new overall leadership with a 1” lead on Peterhansel.
In the truck race, Vladimir Tchaguine (KAM – n°515) showed that he was already well in shape for a fifth triumph on the Dakar. The Russian driver clinched the special with a 1’34” advantage on Gerard De Rooy (DAF – n°516) and 1’57” on team mate Firdaus Kabirov (n°520). After a smooth start to the race in Europe, Tchaguine takes command of the overall.
ALL STANDINGS
Posis by
Hours / Time Scratch Stage Overall
Cars
1 317 GORDON VON ZITZEWITZ
2 306 PETERHANSEL COTTRET
3 307 SABY PERIN
4 312 ALPHAND PICARD
5 310 KLEINSCHMIDT PONS
Trucks
1 515 TCHAGIN YAKUBOV SAVOSTIN
2 516 DE ROOIJ COLSOUL SLAATS
3 520 KABIROV BELYAEV MOKEEV
4 525 MARDEEV KONOPKO GOLUB
5 548 TOMECEK TANAKA MORAVEK
Ping to the nascar folks.
Admin mod, this is genuine news, why did this thread get dumped into chat?
Also, why did my other Dakar Rally thread for stage 2 get dumped into personal/bloggers? Some consistency would be appreciated.
Thanks!
FA
Yeah, but knowin' Robbie he probably missed his pit box, got assessed a Stop 'n Go, and had the in-car camera blow up on him. His nickname should be "Black Cloud".
I hear ya. I think he is an absolute weenie running NASCAR, but he is at least stirring up interest in one of the biggest races of the year, even though we will only get TV coverage AFTER the race is over.
As a kid, i hated Geoff Bodine, because he won all the modified races, but I was a fan when he moved over to the other, not-quite-as-good NASCAR division that hogs all the TV.
Will they have pictures of the race in progress?
Robby will definitely tick off all those Euros by leaving them in the dust. With all his experience in the Baja he should know how to drive in the sand!!
I'm just now catching up with the news (been off for a week). Looks like it's been a very bad year for the Dakar.
Are we going to have a daily thread on the Dakar this year? Not that I'm volunteering, you understand.
Looks like OLN is going back to the 30 minutes per day highlight reel format that Speed used:
http://ww2.olntv.com/tvlistings/test-DB.asp?so=06%20DAKAR%20RALLY
I was planning on setting up a single thread for the whole thing, There really isn't enough interest here. I am putting together a ping list, you want me to add your name?
I am very happy they are going to the format like speed had. I called the programming director and told them what a shit job they did. He called ma back a couple times afterwards to get my thoughts. I told them to take the brittish feed, toby moody and all. To me, that's good coverage. I think they will throw in a few special shows, too.
I'm hoping i get a tivo for christmas, because it's on a 4 or 4:30, and I don't get out of work till 5.
Yes, please ping me to the thread. I get a little tired of Toby's voice, but I really prefer that coverage to what they did last year. Thanks for taking our complaints directly to the PD. I emailed a couple of times but never got any reply.
Merry Christmas!
They are in CT, not far from me,and I did get a direct line number from a friend. :)
I was really bummed, though. Some of the things theydid a little better, but theyinsisted everyone involved had some form of mental illness in all the ads. Hell, all of us who do or have raced have something askew!
I will make sure you are pinged. If you ever get lost, there will be a link in the NASCAR offseason therapy thread.
Oh yeah, Merry Christmas!
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