Dakar 2013 – Leg 4: Al-Attiyah ramps up the pressure

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Buggy) dominated proceedings today as the Dakar Rally travelled from Nazca to Arequipa, depriving Guerlain Chicherit (Buggy SMG) of stage victory by 36 seconds. Stéphane Peterhansel continues to lead overall, however, whilst Sainz, Alvarez and Gordon found themselves out of luck…

Leg 4: Nazca-Arequipa (717 km)

“I know these dunes, but still I was fearful of getting lost in them today,” confessed Nasser Al-Attiyah, winner of the 288km special stage, half of which took place in the dunes. “I was on my own from start to finish; I didn’t see anybody else or know how my time compared. The navigation really wasn’t easy, so Lucas deserves considerable credit.”

Behind the Red Bull Buggy, Stéphane Peterhansel (Mini/Michelin) played it safe: “We took no risks and made no mistakes. That’s a sensible approach to adopt at this stage of the rally; we’ll see later on if we need to push a bit harder.” Trailing Al-Attiyah by 1m17s today, Peterhansel has maintained his overall lead, 5m16s clear of his Qatari rival.

Al-Attiyah remained in the interview zone for some time afterwards, nervously awaiting the arrival of Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit, who – according to the intermediary checkpoints – had set the pace for much of the stage. When the N°309 SMG Buggy appeared, however, there was damage to the front suspension: “I was driving in Nani Roma’s dust and clouted a hole at Km130.” That time loss proved critical, as Guerlain ultimately missed out on the stage win by just 36 seconds.

Giniel de Villiers (Toyota/Michelin) was fourth fastest through the stage, ahead of Nani Roma, whilst Russian Leonid Novitskiy was forced to stop to fix a fuel supply issue. At the end, missing in action were Lucio Alvarez (Toyota) – more than three hours late at the Passage Control –, Carlos Sainz (Buggy), who stopped several times and consequently dropped more than two-and-a-half hours, and Robby Gordon, who rolled his Hummer in a dune at Km29.

Stage 4 classification:

1, Al-Attiyah/Cruz (Buggy), 3h28m36s. 2, Chicherit/Garcin (Buggy), +36s. 3, Peterhansel/Cottret (Mini), +1m17s. 4, De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz (Toyota), +4m17s. 5, Roma/Périn (Mini), +7m27s. Etc.

Provisional standings after Leg 4:

1, Peterhansel/Cottret (Mini), 9h4m29s. 2, Al-Attiyah/Cruz (Buggy), +5m16s. 3, De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz (Toyota), +33m22s. 4, Notvitskiy/Zhilstov (Mini), +33m48s. 5, Roma/Périn (Mini), +39m6s. Etc.

Dakar 2013– Leg 4: stage victory for Barreda and a great day for Pain!

After being delayed by a damaged wheel on Monday, Spain’s Joan Barreda (Husqvarna/Michelin) bounced back to record today’s fastest time, ahead Olivier Pain and David Casteu. The latter two riders are now first and second overall after Cyril Despres dropped 17m35s.

Leg 4: Nazca-Arequipa (717km)

The finish of SS4 – one of the 2013 Dakar’s toughest challenges – was situated near Jacqui, a handful of kilometres from the Pan American Highway. Despite the breeze blowing in from the Pacific Ocean, the heat in the middle of the Peruvian dunes was searing. By 10am, the ground temperature was a cool 42°C as the first bikers showed up at the control.

Husqvarna riders Paulo Gonçalves and Alessandro Botturi arrived at the same time as the Honda 450 CRF of Gerard Farres Guel who has been running with a replacement engine since Leg 2 (15-minute time penalty). “The navigation was difficult,” reported Botturi as he pulled off his helmet.

Cyril Despres was next to show: “Like yesterday and the day before, I ran ahead of the pack, but they passed me a few kilometres from the finish. That’s the way it is…” The four-time Dakar winner clearly isn’t happy with his role as the ‘hare’!

He ended up in 15^th place today, more than 17 minutes behind the stage winner Joan Barreda Bort (Husqvarna/Michelin) who was helped by his running order. “It’s been a perfect day,” smiled the Spaniard. “It was a magnificent stage, with lots of navigation, some impressive downhill sections and a flat-out portion along the beach.”

Barreda was fastest up to all the passage controls and eventually beat Yamaha/Michelin riders Olivier Pain and David Casteu. “I didn’t take any risks and just tried to concentrate on my navigation”, said the new leader, Pain, modestly. With Casteu up to second overall, the only problem for Yamaha was the mechanical trouble encountered by de Frans Verhoeven (fuel system) who was running together with Pain.

The factory Honda riders recovered from their problems on Monday, with Farres Guel and Helder Rodrigues both finishing in today’s top five.

Stage 4 classification:

1, Barreda (Husqvarna), 3h41m9s. 2, Pain (Yamaha), +8m23.3s. 3, Casteu (Yamaha), +10m42.4s. 4, Farres Guel (Honda), +11m40.5s. 5, Rodrigues (Honda), +11m43.6s. Etc.

Provisional positions after Leg 4:

1, Pain (Yamaha), 10h10m38. 2, Casteu (Yamaha), +2m24s. 3, Despres (KTM), +3m9s. 4, Barreda (Husqvarna), +5m38.5s. 5, Viladoms (KTM), +7m22.6s. Etc.

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Kintoko’s Ex-Police CB650

This ex Indonesian Police CB650 was sent in to us by Kintoko Adeji who picked the bike up in very rough condition, and still in full Police trim, where it served the force in the 1980s. It ran badly, the exhaust leaked and it was covered in rust.

Here’s how she arrived…

At first it was going to be a restoration project and Kintoko sent it to a small garage in Jogjakarta, Tendjo, Klasyk Kustom (I’ll let you do your own translation), but after they rebuilt the engine Kintoko had a change of heart and set his sights on a Cafe/Brat having seen a few bikes from the Wrench Monkees.

His budget was tight and he had to use as many original parts as possible, although it did get custom exhaust pipes, seat, rear fender, clock mountings, new wheels and a host of the usual cafe/brat must-have parts..

And the end result? As Kintoko puts it; “Good bye heavy looking police bike and welcome the new simple look.”

Awesome.