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 | Pharaons Rally: What they said after Stage 02 round course Tibniya-Tibniya.
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Jean-Louis Schlesser (Buggy), stage winner and overall leader: "Once again the stage was magnificent and dunes were splendid. I had to show myself smart with Vasiliev that was opening the road but didn´t want to stay in front during the dunes. This was like playing the mouse and the cat. Finally, he stopped. We took the rhythm higher and took it all. By the end of the stage, it was very "shaky" and the last 90 were very hard."
Jun Mitsuhashi (Toyota T2), second of the stage and overall: "This special has the "Dakar format", long and hard. We were gifted in the dunes, which is not always simple with the Toyota because of the weight. But with the right air pressure in tires at CP1, we were able to avoid getting stuck. I was concentrated and I thought I didn´t make much mistakes. Navigation wise it was less complicated and as always, Alain (Guehennec) carried out a great job."
Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha 450), stage winner: "It was a very long stage with lots of sands and stones. I started fourth and little by little I got to the top to find myself in front of Jordi (Viladoms). I found a good rhythm and made the effort to keep it all stage long, it paid at the finish line! These two first stags were hard for the bike and riders, but I appreciate it and for the moment everything is ok."
Jordi Viladoms (Yamaha 450), third: "I got up to Marc Coma, and then I crossed the dunes without problems, keeping a nice cadence. I found myself with Helder and each of us took his turn to try to win, but we finally crossed the finish line together. I am quite glad with the performance of the bike because after two days, it needs lots of mechanics."
Marc Coma (KTM 450), fourth and race leader: "It was a typical day at Pharaons, for the stage length and for its difficulty. All elements of a big stage where there: off road, dunes and some rough roads. I opened the road and I saw Helder (Rodrigues) and Jordi (Viladoms) very fast. To run for 500 km in a timed section like this is an excellent training to learn how do doze effort and adopt a good race rhythm. After two days, we have to keep results steady, but the bike and the rider are so far, so good!"
Francisco Lopez: "I am glad I was able to restart this morning after the clutch problems yesterday. Even if I took a late start, it was fine and I felt well while ridding and I feel like I did well. It was a hard stage, but for me, a lot better than yesterday."
2011/10/04 | 19:14 CET | ARTICLE: MR/SY/BAUER/URTUBIA
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