Dakar Rally Starts on January 1; Bill Conger is #188.

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Sorry to hear your dog is out of the hunt Don. Poor guy has to be one tired and depressed pup.

This just in:

BREAKING: Quinn Cody has to withdraw after crash: suspected fracture of collarbone, head injury, but condition NOT ALARMING
He was doing amazingly well too!

I may be wrong but that puts Ned Suesse into the #1 American slot. :yahoo:
A very heartbreaking situation for Bill and Quinn, very happy all is still going well for Ned; I'll start rooting for Ned now, it would be fantastic to see an American win Dakar.

What an incredibly tough, rough and mean motorcycling event Dakar is, it's just beyond my imagination of how strong and gnarly a rider would have to be to handle Dakar.

 
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I've watched that over and over now and can't really see what his rear wheel hit to make it bounce so violently? It was like his shock locked out. Man-o-man that guy was haul'in the mail before his crash though.

 
Oh Man Mark, that is really tough to watch! That is the way that Tucson Joe and Papa Chuy usually crash, but at about 1/5th of that speed!
When Papa Chuy bumped that pebble in the driveway on our Copper Canyon trip he didn't bounce. It was more of a splat!!

 
...Man-o-man that guy was haul'in the mail before his crash though.
That's for sure!

Sorry to hear of any rider getting injured...

...RIP to those who tragically made this their last race.
My BMW MOA Friend Bill Conger, Dakar #188, just posted this up on the Adventure Rider Website:

Not sure where to begin...but first, thank you to everyone for all the support, well wishes, concern and the Teddy Roosevelt quote. I have been brought to tears several times over the past 24 hours with the reality of failure. I have strived many times to chase different dreams only to always fall short of the goal. I don't regret the chase as it has brought some wonderful life experiences. But failure has a way of beating you down and brings question to why we do the thing we do. During one of my down times on stage I was thinking how foolish this was to think I could pull this off with so little time and money. Then the thought of how much time and money has been spent, I was going to do whatever I could to make in. Once again I came up short. I'm still trying to deal with it. I like to think I have delt with failure well in the past, a little disappointment at first then an even stronger resolve to push on. Currently I feel the failure heavily. I'm sure this will pass. Reading the quote makes feel a little better.

 
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What? No Dakar chatter this year? What gives? As Don Carver stated: Just a posse of street pussies here!

This site has short videos of each stages action. The bikes go first, so fun to see those guys blast along.

On stage 8, about the 1:10 mark or so, one guy bites it on a huge pothole of sorts. Ouch, That Will Hurt!

https://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/stage-1/videos-galery.html

 
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It wasn't so much a pothole as it was a mud bog where the rider performed his endo. It took Dupres way too long to extract his bike from that mess where Cumo was able to read the terrain better and avoided getting stuck in that mess. Judging by the mud they must of had recent rains in the area.

 
It wasn't so much a pothole as it was a mud bog where the rider performed his endo. It took Dupres way too long to extract his bike from that mess where Cumo was able to read the terrain better and avoided getting stuck in that mess. Judging by the mud they must of had recent rains in the area.
Meh, that mud hole would have been mere child's play for Tucson Joe and Papa Chuy! We'd have kicked ass and taken names on that section! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

 
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ONLY THE FECKING FRENCH: Goncalves generously helped Despres out of the mess, and the Frenchman promptly sped away. Goncalves was then assisted by the race director.

Dakar 2012, Stage 8

Copiapo - Antofagasta

722 km in total, 477 km special test

Full throttle - but not without problems

Stage eight of the Dakar 2012 saw mixed results for the Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain. Joan Barreda was fighting for another podium finish before ending the day in fourth. Paulo Goncalves meanwhile had a difficult stage. Lying fourth overall in the morning, the Portuguese lost one place. He was finally content to complete today´s race at all.

The stage was fast and dangerous, often full throttle and sometimes really tricky. Former race leader Cyril Despres and Goncalves became victims of a mudhole that was not marked in the roadbook. Both got stuck. Goncalves generously helped Despres out of the mess, and the Frenchman promptly sped away. Goncalves was then assisted by the race director.

The incident costed a lot of time, which was handed back to Goncalves afterwards. But more bad luck occurred, when he hit a stone one kilometre from the finish line. Goncalves had to push his bike to the finish with a damaged drivetrain. Quite lucky under the circumstances, he "only" lost 24 minutes on Marc Coma, who won the stage. Goncalves dropped back to fifth overall. But on a day when it was important to finish, he did just that.

Joan Barreda avoided the mudhole and was going for a top three result. He just missed out, as Ruben Faria and Helder Rodrigues got the better end. Barreda lost valuable time and a precious podium riding in the dust of Stefan Svitko and Juan Pedrero. Good: the Spaniard rode smart and didn´t take too many risks.

Zé Hélio also suffered at the mudhole and lost almost one hour. Discussions are going on whether to credit him lost time. Jose Manuel Pellicer keeps improving. He´s sitting right behind his teammates in 25th.

Tuesday brings the longest special of the rally. Canyons, loose sand and 556 kilometres of special test await the riders. The stage ends with a georgeous descent to the Pacific Ocean at Iquique.

1. Marc Coma (SPA) KTM, 5:03:52 hrs

2. Ruben Faria (POR) KTM, 7:00 min behind 3. Helder Rodrigues (POR) Yamaha, 7:10 4. Joan Barreda (SPA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 8:44 5. Stefan Svitko (SVK) KTM, 9:09 16. Paulo Goncalves (POR) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 24:26 23. Jose Manuel Pellicer (SPA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 34:34 37. Zé Hélio (BRA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 56:49

Overall standings

1. Coma, 23:24:18 hrs

2. Cyril Despres (FRA) KTM, 1:26 behind

3. Rodrigues (POR) Yamaha, 49:01

4. David Casteu (FRA) Yamaha, 1:09:52

5. Paulo Goncalves (POR) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 1:12:11

23. Joan Barreda (SPA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 3:26:04

24. Zé Hélio (BRA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 3:27:51

25. Jose Manuel Pellicer (SPA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 3:53:19

 
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DAKAR 2012 Update
Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain - Rallye Dakar - Stage 11

12.01.2012

Dakar 2012' date=' Stage 11

Arica - Arequipa

705 km in total, 534 km special test

Barreda in the top five again

Thursday´s stage eleven of the Dakar 2012 provided mixed feelings for the Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain. Joan Barreda scored yet another top five result, but Paulo Goncalves´ battle for an overall podium is over following a decision by the race jury, which the team finds incomprehensible. Goncalves received a six-hour penalty and is now positioned way down the order.

Joan Barreda opened today´s "survival" stage. He reached a river crossing at km 40 and got momentarily stuck.

Barreda had to push the bike out because of the high water level. Cyril Despres and Marc Coma, who had started behind the Spaniard, therefore caught him. The trio carried on together. Despres then made a navigation error and plenty of riders joined the front-runners. That was pretty much the story of the stage. The route was beautiful, but not very difficult in terms of riding aspects. It was dusty and overtaking was close to impossible. Barreda ended the day a well-deserved fifth, promoting him to 11th overall.

Paulo Goncalves began the stage as 16th. He was confident in the morning to make up ground. Then came the jury decision. He understandbly found it hard to concentrate afterwards. The six-hour penalty was issued due to alleged unauthorised outside assistance. The penalty refers to stage eight, when Goncalves first got stuck in a mudhole all by himself, before suffering a broken drivetrain caused by a stone. In this situation rider No. 15 accused Goncalves of receiving outside assistance. Other riders who came by at that point, and who were in direct competition with the Portuguese, do not confirm such incident. Still the jury trusted the accusations, robbing the rider and the team of any hopes of a top result overall.

Jose Manuel Pellicer had a good day on the way to Arequipa. He made no mistakes and has improved considerably in the standings. Zé Hélio was also performing well, both riders are now sitting in the top twenty.

The riders are on their own tonight, no service is allowed in the survival bivaouc. Barreda starts tomorrow´s stage as fifth. Things will be real difficult and interesting, with the dunes of Nasca and a special of 245 kilometres awaiting the field.

1. Cyril Despres (FRA) KTM, 4:03:37 hrs

2. Gerard Farres Guell (SPA) KTM 1:39 min behind

3. Marc Coma (SPA) KTM, 2:01 min 4. Johnny Aubert (FRA) KTM 3:30

5. Joan Barreda (SPA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 4:53

15. Paulo Goncalves (POR) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 18:35

16. Jose Manuel Pellicer (SPA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 19:39

21. Zé Hélio (BRA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 26:49

Overall standings

1. Despres, 37:11:16 hrs

2. Coma, 2:22 min behind

3. Helder Rodrigues (POR) Yamaha, 1:08:40

4. Jordi Viladoms (SPA) KTM, 1:24:46

5. Stefan Svitko (SVK) KTM, 1:34:56

11. Joan Barreda (SPA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 3:34:20

18. Zé Hélio (BRA) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 5:15:11

19. Jose Manuel Pellicer (SPA), Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 5:23:45

26. Paulo Goncalves (POR) Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain, 8:00:16

[b']Dakar Blogs[/b] – not a comprehensive list but ones that have shown up in previous news posts.

trackingdakar.com: Standings available for stages in many sorts.

bc2dakar.com: Bill Conger – Husqvarna TE449

advrider.com: Dakar 2012 Official Event Coverage

advrider.com: Tales from the bivouac, Dakar 2012
 
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