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2023 Dakar Rally

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veriest1 said:
I'm pretty sure the yellow number plate classifies him as an Elite rider not a moto GP competitor. Elite, as I recall, means at least one previous stage win or a class win. Most riders have a white number. White and yellow number plates all have some form of support crew.

And Original by Motul (aka Molle Moto) riders, no support, have the maroon number plates.



Edited a bunch because my phone is being really funny after its update.
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Moto GP? That is road racing. The top class of bike riders are in the Rally GP class. They have yellow plates.
 
I don't know why I typed Moto GP. It's obvious from the conversation and the screen shot I meant Rally.

Anyway, I don't know where you get that the Rally GP class has yellow plates. I haven't been able to find that anywhere. Here's another screenshot from the Dakar website.

1673135771020.png
 
Mason may have gotten his bell rung in Stage 9. He rolled in without a peak and dropped down the standings. A keen eye will notice MK has added a special tube to his kit after mentioning he'd had to stop to many times in an earlier stage.

www.dakar.com

Mason Klein: “I just kind of don’t remember what happened”

Official website of the Dakar Rally (ex Paris-Dakar)
www.dakar.com www.dakar.com

“I don’t really know, I think I crashed somewhere near 300 km. I just kind of don’t remember what happened. I remember that I ran into someone; I think it was Ross. I think we came together. It’s just my arm that kind of hurts, so we’ve wrapped it up. My roadbook fell out of my vest at the beginning of the race, for the second half. I felt like for the whole time we were going slowly because I wasn’t doing any navigating. I didn’t know if the navigation was difficult or not. I just had to sit with everybody. Because of that we were all riding really close, making the chances of running into each other a lot higher, I guess. I feel okay, but I think I lost my helmet visor at the beginning of the day, I don’t really know. I think Ross and I just hit each other. It was frustrating”.

MK at *** without helmet peak end of stage 9.jpg
 
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www.lavoixdunord.fr

Dakar: Adrien Van Beveren percuté à 100 km/h par Mason Klein

Après une belle spéciale, qui lui a permis de prendre la 4e place du général, Adr...
www.lavoixdunord.fr www.lavoixdunord.fr

Via Google Translate: "After a great special stage, which allowed him to take 4th place overall, Adrien Van Beveren was hit at the end by his rival Klein, at nearly 100 km/h. Both men managed to finish the stage. Touched, Van Beveren is rather reassuring."

In other news, the trucks, which were crossing the swollen waters without drama early in the race are getting a real workout today. :shock:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1612829415968329730
 
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veriest1 said:
Mason may have gotten his bell rung in Stage 9. He rolled in without a peak and dropped down the standings. A keen eye will notice MK has added a special tube to his kit after mentioning he'd had to stop to many times in an earlier stage.

www.dakar.com

Mason Klein: “I just kind of don’t remember what happened”

Official website of the Dakar Rally (ex Paris-Dakar)
www.dakar.com www.dakar.com

“I don’t really know, I think I crashed somewhere near 300 km. I just kind of don’t remember what happened. I remember that I ran into someone; I think it was Ross. I think we came together. It’s just my arm that kind of hurts, so we’ve wrapped it up. My roadbook fell out of my vest at the beginning of the race, for the second half. I felt like for the whole time we were going slowly because I wasn’t doing any navigating. I didn’t know if the navigation was difficult or not. I just had to sit with everybody. Because of that we were all riding really close, making the chances of running into each other a lot higher, I guess. I feel okay, but I think I lost my helmet visor at the beginning of the day, I don’t really know. I think Ross and I just hit each other. It was frustrating”.
Click to expand...
I hope the docs took a good look at him.
 
Word of mouth from The Mother Ship is Kleins mom has stated her son has been examined multiple times and will continue.

The race is about to enter The Empty Quarter. If I remember correctly they start a marathon stage tonight (Or maybe it was tomorrow? We'll see soon enough.) so they all get to pretend to be Malle Moto riders for a day.

Sadly, a spectator died today.
www.motorsport.com

Spectator dies after incident in Dakar Rally

www.motorsport.com www.motorsport.com
 
veriest1 said:
Sadly, a spectator died today.
Click to expand...
I watched the video yesterday. He was right in the path of the truck as it crested the dune and there was no way for the truck team to see him. The video at the site showed him rolling on the ground after being struck, and the video from inside the truck cab doesn't even show him at all. The team did not know they hit him until later that night at the bivouac. The team did not continue on the next stage.

Another report said that he survived the hit but complained of a severe headache about 4 hours later and then died either in route or at the hospital. My guess would be a stroke/brain bleed as that was my wife's symptom when she had her stroke.

Mason had a bad Stage 11 and is down by more than 30 minutes but is still in the top ten.
 
Now they're into the marathon of Stage 11 and 12 in the Empty Quarter. Stage 10 was just a little appetizer.

I saw an interview with MK where he was saying he was just exhausted a couple of stages ago and having trouble going fast. This could be due to the crash, something else, or both. That something else is, Annemiek van Vleuten at least partially attributed her win of the 2022 Tour de Femme to her age. She is a little older than most of her competitors and said this gave her an advantage when it came to endurance because of miles in the saddle that her competitors just didn't have because it takes time (and seasons) to build up. Looking at the other top competitors, they're all older than MK and the other youngsters seem to be mostly in the side by side class. So I wouldn't worry about him to much as he's way ahead of the curve sitting in the top 10 of the bikes.

The good news is he's starting Stage 12 as 27th rider on the course here in a few minutes and should have good tracks to follow. And the other American Howe is still pushing.

324953767_220266970365623_7800064377628179257_n.jpg
 
The lost quarter is nuts.

It doesn't seem to be treating Mason well either. He was 42nd through the first check point. Maybe he lost time in the fesh fesh? Maybe he was attacked by a sand worm?

1673594767675.png



a50e3.jpg


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a5e42.jpg



Images shamelessly stolen from the internet.
 
The vid looks like those dunes have a crust...right up until they don't. Front tire sinks suddenly and the bike gets squirrely. That has got to be physically exhausting for the pilot. It's hard to even imagine going like that all day. I need some Gatorade just to recover from watching these folks.
 
_RG_ said:
The vid looks like those dunes have a crust...right up until they don't. Front tire sinks suddenly and the bike gets squirrely. That has got to be physically exhausting for the pilot. It's hard to even imagine going like that all day. I need some Gatorade just to recover from watching these folks.
Click to expand...

It looks like that's what got Howes when he was showboating for the helicopter. It looked like his bike just plowed on the landing.
 
1673788152696.png


The dunes are insane! This is the approximate elevation profile from Stage 12 (sourced from The Mothership).
 
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