Dakar – Leg 2: Monday’s stage win for Sunderland, Barreda still leads / Etape 2 : victoire de Sunderland, Barreda reste leader

Sam Sunderland (Honda-Michelin) was the fastest rider on Leg 2’s 359km stage en route from San Luis to San Rafael. The Briton finished clear of Chile’s Chaleco Lopez (KTM-Michelin) and fellow Honda runner Joan Barreda who still tops the provisional leaderboard.

Sam Sunderland (Honda) s’est montré le plus rapide lors de la deuxième spéciale chronométrée longue de 359 km entre San Luis et San Rafael. Il devance à l’arrivée le chilien Chaleco Lopez (KTM-Michelin) et son coéquipier Joan Barreda (Honda-Michelin) qui conserve sa place de leader au général.

Sunderland is contesting the Dakar for only the second time on his Honda CRF 450 Rally. He retired on Day 2 in 2012 and was forced to sit out the 2013 rally through injury, but today saw him claim the first stage victory on the event of his career.

In addition to being quick, the 24-year old is a talented navigator and he completed today’s 359km test in a time of 3h42m10s. At the halfway point, he was fourth overall, 3m15s adrift of Barreda, but he produced a stunning run over the infamous grey dunes near Nihuil to claw back time and beat Chaleco Lopez by a margin of 39 seconds. His performance makes it two stage victories from two so far for Honda, while team-mate Barreda was third (+2m0s).

Fourth place went to Cyril Despres’ former back-up rider Ruben Faria (+4m7s, KTM-Michelin) who was second in 2013. Alain Duclos (Sherco-Michelin) ran well again and was fifth (+5m51s).

Meanwhile, Marc Coma (KTM-Michelin) and Cyril Despres (Yamaha Factory Racing) both dropped more than eight minutes to today’s pacesetter (+8m23s and +8m43s respectively) and have consequently lost ground in the overall order. Coma is down to fifth (+7m0s) and Despres is eighth (+8m23s).

Australian rider Ben Graham (KTM-Michelin), David Casteu (KTM-Michelin) and Paulo Goncalves (Honda-Michelin) all posted similar times to round off Stage 2’s top eight.

The overall leaderboard continues to be topped by Barreda who is now 2m3s clear of Lopez. Sunderland’s success has taken him from overnight ninth to third place, exactly half-a-minute behind Lopez. Duclos is still fourth (+5m47s).

Tuesday’s competitive action (373km) will see competitors climb the slopes of the Aconcagua volcano to an altitude of 4,300 metres. The initial section of the fortnight’s first marathon stage (1,038km) will take them to tonight’s halt in San Juan where no servicing will be permitted.

The day could play a key role in the fight for victory since riders will need to be careful with their bikes if they want to reach Chilecito safely on Wednesday evening.

San Sunderland au guidon de sa Honda CRF 450 Rally remporte sa première victoire d’étape  pour sa seconde participation. Suite à un abandon précoce à l’issue de la deuxième étape en 2012, le pilote britannique, âgé seulement de 24 ans, avait dû déclarer forfait en 2013 pour cause de blessure.

Rapide et disposant de bonnes capacités de navigation, Sam Sunderland est venu à bout des 359 km de spéciale en 3h42min10. Pointé en quatrième position à mi-parcours à 3min15 du leader Barreda, Sunderland a su déjouer les pièges des dunes grises de la région de Nihuil et parfaire son retard pour s’imposer avec 39 secondes d’avance sur Chaleco Lopez. Il offre à Honda une seconde victoire d’étape consécutive. Son coéquipier Barreda se classe troisième à 2 minutes.

L’ancien porteur d’eau de Cyril Despres, Ruben Faria (KTM-Michelin), deuxième de l’édition 2013, s’est hissé à la quatrième place accusant un retard de 4min07 sur le vainqueur du jour.  Alain Duclos (Sherco-Michelin) a confirmé son bon début de rallye en terminant cinquième à 5 minutes.

En revanche, Marc Coma (KTM-Michelin) et Cyril Despres (Yamaha Factory Racing), neuvième et dixième, ont concédé plus de 8 minutes chacun. L’Espagnol abandonne 8min23 et le Français 8min43 à Sunderland. Les deux grands favoris rétrogradent au classement général. Coma occupe  désormais la cinquième place (+7min) alors que Despres glisse au huitième rang (+8min23).

L’Australien Ben Graham (KTM-Michelin), David Casteu (KTM-Michelin) et Paulo Goncalves (Honda-Michelin) terminent en tir groupé séparés que de quelques secondes et s’intercalent de la sixième à la huitième place.

Au classement général, Barreda conserve la tête et compte 2min03 d’avance sur Lopez. Sa première victoire d’étape associée à sa neuvième place hier permet à Sunderland de compléter le podium provisoire à 30 secondes du Chilien. Duclos pointe toujours à la quatrième place à 5min47 du leader.

Demain, les concurrents escaladeront une partie du volcan de l’Aconcagua et grimperont jusqu’à 4300 mètres d’altitude. La première partie de la première étape marathon longue de 1038 km (373 km de spéciale) les conduira à San Juan où ils seront accueillis dans un bivouac dédié sans assistance.

La troisième étape peut s’annoncer d’ores et déjà capitale dans la course à la victoire. Les motards devront ménager la mécanique s’ils souhaitent rallier Chilecito mercredi soir.

Classement Etape 2 :

Sunderland 3h42min10s – 2. Lopez (KTM-Michelin) +39s – 3. Barreda (Honda-Michelin) +2min – 4. Faria (KTM-Michelin) +4min07 – 5. Duclos (Sherco-Michelin) +5min51,…9. Coma (KTM-Michelin) +8min23 – 10. Despres (Yamaha-Michelin) +8min43.

Classement général :

Barreda 6h9min4 – 2. Lopez +2min03 – 3. Sunderland +2min33 – 4. Duclos +5min47 – 5. Coma +7min – 6. Faria +7min18 – 7. Goncalez +8min10 – 8. Despres +8min23,…

Mongolia 2013

August 2013
21 Days
7 People
5000 Km off-road
(Moscow) - Barnaul - Altai - Tuva - Mongolia -Baikal - (Moscow)

Offroadpeople: Mongolia 2013 from grom1300 on Vimeo.

Aaron Miller’s CB350

Las Vegas, the Desert City that never sleeps, where you win big or lose big. The destination of a thousand tales of excess and debauchery. As a day tripper it’s difficult to fathom that people actually come from there, a pop up mirage in a desert of open space. But they do. Aaron Jay Miller does, born and raised, and judging by the skills and passion this guy has, it can be a melting pot of creativity and purpose as well as decadence and demise.

Aaron is an artist and fabricator that builds props and sets for Theatre and Television, he currently works in the Vegas prop and fabrication shop of the legendary Cirque Du Soleil. If you have ever had the pleasure of seeing one of this troupe’s death defying, wondrous shows, you will know that precision, beauty and execution are essential in every aspect of their world. Luckily for us, Aaron has now begun to turn his craftsman hands to creating motorcycles. With the skill-set he has picked-up through his profession, it was inevitable that when he decided to create a motorcycle with the tools he had in his garage, something very special would emerge.

The starting point was a 72′ Honda cb350 found on craigslist in Utah. Aaron teamed up with buddy Phil, and they took on the trip to collect the bike and it’s re-assembly together, dividing the workload to conquer the build. Aaron approached bike building from the same perspective he uses to create custom art pieces, viewing the bike as art on wheels. With the end goal of a brat style scrambler they set to work. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Phil began stripping down the bike, removing superfluous parts and cleaning out the carb, whilst Aaron set to work on the tank. After repairing a dent, stripping the paint and polishing it up Aaron decided the bare metal finish on the tank was just too cool to hide with paintwork. This decision infused the rest of the build, “the idea came up to build a bunch of custom parts out of steel for the bike and just do a brushed steel look for the whole bike.” The first of these steel fabrications were new fork shroud headlight brackets to replace the old tired chrome versions. These, of course, do not simply grip the original fibreglass headlight, Aaron made a new stepped, steel headlight shell and fitted a contrasting black peak to the lamp dropping a hint of steampunk into the brat look. Next up were the trick handlebars that were fabricated to incorporate a hidden mounting system that utilise the riser bolt holes. The cockpit is completed with a crescent steel moon dashboard incorporating simple clocks and warning lights. Chunky foot pegs were then turned and wrapped with skateboard deck tape to keep boots/Vans from the desert floor.

The stance of the bike was altered by dropping the forks 1.5 inches through the trees to generate a more parallel profile, emphasised by the matching sizes of the front and rear Kenda trials tires that frequently draw curious questions. Aaron further carved and cleaned the looks by lopping-off the rear framework and rebuilding it with 1 inch tubing to his desired proportions. Then life began to get in the way, (I guess Vegas can be a distracting town) “I got tied up with other projects and the bike sat for a bit, then I saw a flyer for the deus bike build off in LA and decided to finish it up and bring it to the event.” Work kicked on again in earnest.

Aaron built all new battery and electrical mounts then covered them with an aluminum seat pan. Next Aaron mined his group of talented friends and hired Cirque du Soleil colleague, Antonio, from the prop and puppet department to construct the leatherwork for the seat to his own specifications. Predictably Antonio’s work and craftsmanship yielded stunning results as well. (The seat has just enough room for a showgirl on the back, but with no pegs she would have to wrap those legs around you for the blast up the strip… Sorry, I deviate….) With only a day left before the Deus build off, Aaron fabricated a steel tail light and a natty license plate holder before hitting the road to L.A. at midnight. Awesome.

In Aaron’s words, “the bike did not win but it was well liked by everyone there which made me want to go home and build another right away. Which is exactly what I did, now my garage is filled with 6 bikes and I’m thinking about quitting my job to build bikes!” On this occasion we are very happy to say that what happens in Vegas, has not stayed in Vegas. Keep building em’ Aaron, and we will keep showing em’ on the ‘Shed.

Thanks go to Cierra Miller for the stunning, apt photography of this desert sled. Check out aaronjaymiller.comfor more information.

Written & Posted by Gareth@TheBikeShed

from PIPEBURN

NEED FOR SPEED: KEN BLOCK'S GYMKHANA SIX

Need For Speed's Racing Advisor Ken Block built the ultimate Gymkhana GRID course -- a real-life playground to showcase the sheer speed, fun and exhilarating action of driving. This means all-new obstacles that help raise the difficulty for Block to master in his Ford Fiesta ST RX43 2013 racecar, including maneuvering around a moving wrecking ball and sliding through narrow opening cut into the sides of shipping containers. Block also added videogame elements from Need for Speed Rivals. Watch as he executes multiple jumps, drifts around Lamborghini Aventadors and evades the videogame-themed Redview County cops on Segways in his own unique style. You can almost smell the burn of the rubber as he tears up this incredible course. So sit back and enjoy the ride.