|
 | SA-Dakar: Honda´s Quinn Cody met a pig - Holland´s Mirjam Pol unhappy.
|
The second day in the Dakar was again well over 700 kilometers long. As Honda´s Quinn Cody mentioned, it was easy to make mistakes which was confirmed by the many missed turns and many crashes. All four riders got through the day without too many difficulties. For the mechanics this means just the regular maintenance. New oil, fresh airfilters, and checking if the bikes are ok.
Quinn Cody didn’t take too many risks. "It was very easy to make mistakes. You could tell from the tire marks that the leaders were really taking
risks, I tried to be smooth. At some point you have to choose. Maintain a speed which allows me to follow my roadbook, or just go after my instinct and follow the tracks from the other guys, I choose to read the roadbook, we still have a long way to go.
I got overtaken by Olivier Pain, just before the fuel stop. In the end of the special I caught up with Jordi Viladoms. Navigation wasn’t too hard, because of the many spectators. I had a scary moment when a huge pig was in the middle of the track, it must have been around 200 kilos, I missed it by 3 inches!"
Mirjam Pol was again not happy with her result of the day. "Just like yesterday I had a bad day. Not completely, because I gained 30 positions before the fuel stop. I overtook some people in the dust, some others by riding clever. But after the fuel stop I was stuck behind 3 quads which made so much dust I couldn’t get past. So most of the 30 riders passed me again and in the end I was back where I started.
The good thing was, that the riding went a lot better. Bad thing is I again have to start in a position where I don’t want to be. Further back you also have to deal with the ruts created by all the riders which have already passed, making the track harder to ride."
Alexey Naumov (126) lost his stamp card and got a 5 minutes penalty. That was in fact the only incident of the day for the Russian rider, who’s riding safely but still in 78th position. "It was a long day, but other than that ok. The second half of the stage was difficult, with all the dust, so I was making sure I was 200% safe. Things are going better day by day."
Vadim Pritulyak (52) was the second rider of the team to arrive in the bivouac. A half a year ago he decided to work more on his riding skills, and so far it’s paying off. "I read and follow the roadbook all the time, and it helps me to control my speed. I’m more confident on the bike and less tired. I learned from Henk (Henk Hellegers, the team owner) this is the most important thing. Coming to the bivouac, there was a massive crowd. To me it’s like living in a show, in my opinion not what the Dakar is about."
2011/01/04 | 16:33 CET | ARTICLE: MR/SY/HONDA
|
|
