Passion - Dakar XtreM Adventure powered by Michelin

The word ‘passion’ comes from the Latin passio which means ‘suffer’, ‘endure’. It is an ingredient you need in abundance if you want to reach the finish of the Dakar, probably the world’s most punishing rally. Passion is what is fuelling the surviving competitors, service crews and volunteer staff alike as we approach the end of the event’s second week.

That said, you occasionally feel that some people have more passion than others. Take Robert Van Pelt, for example. Aged just 19, the Dutch biker is contesting the Dakar for the very first time on a Honda which is entered in the so-called ‘Malle-Motos’ class, where no outside servicing is permitted. “My father has done the rally several times in the same class, but this year he is competing in a truck. I caught the virus for motorbikes and for this incredible event from him. Needless to say, I’m exhausted, but I’m also determined to make it to the finish,” promises Robert who is currently 43^rd overall.
The 10 Michelin tyre fitters who are following the Dakar are just as passionate about their mission. Nicolas, Ceric, Laurent, Philippe, Alexis and their colleagues have worked late into the night every day since the start. “Between us, we fit or remove more than 250 tyres each day. The figure even reached 600 during the ‘rest day’ at San Miguel de Tucuman,” remarked one of them between two gulps of water, while his colleagues were busy manhandling big truck tyres. “We tend to finish at around one or two o’clock in the morning. We’re very tired, but we will keep going all the way to the end…”
The 200 or so officials who make sure that the rally runs smoothly have passion to spare, too. Pascal used to take part on the event on two wheels but now he runs the bivouac ‘In’ and ‘Out’ time controls. Meanwhile, his colleagues who look after safety on the stages, or who man the passage controls and road section time controls spend hours every day waiting for the competitors in conditions ranging from dust and sandstorms to heavy rain and scorching sunshine.
“It can be a round-the-clock job some days,” notes Pascal. “This year, the last competitor to show up at San Miguel de Tucuman was the rider of the N°286 quad bike who arrived at 6am. We’re up and running in time for the departure of the first biker and, at the next overnight camp, we wait until the last competitor arrives. There are 10 of us in our team and we work as two or three groups. Once the last biker has left, one of the groups takes the plane to be ready for when the first competitors arrive at the next bivouac, and so on… We don’t get much sleep, but we should make it all the way to Santiago…”
One person who won’t take part in the finish festivities is Etienne Smulevici who was excluded from his 31^st Dakar in Arica after missing too many ‘Way Points’. Even so, he has promised to come back in 2014. That, too, is what we call passion!

Ben Spies excited to be part of Ducati family

After missing out on his first Ducati debut at Valencia due to his shoulder injury, Ben Spiesfinally became a full member of the Ducati family when he took part in last night’s unveiling ofPramac Racing Team’s GP13.

Pramac which will have factory support from Ducati and the team also has two new sponsors,Ignite Asset Management (a New York-based, alternative-asset-management firm led by a group of hedge-fund industry veterans and supported by private investors with a passion for motorsports) for Spies, while team mate and MotoGP rookie Andrea Iannone will be sponsored by Energy T.I., an energy company.

Hopefully ‘ignite’ will also be the key word that will help set Spies on fire after his horribile 2012 season with Yamaha.

“I am excited to be a part of the Ducati family. This is something I’ve wanted from the beginning of my racing career. My team and I have our work cut out for us and new goals to meet, but we’ll benefit from factory support and Audi coming on board. Ducati has four strong riders with different styles, which should improve the Desmosedici and bring it back up to the top where it belongs,” said Spies

Pramac Racing will play a key role in the development of the Ducati Desmosedici GP13, and Ben Spies’ experience and talent will be essential to the project and Francesco Guidotti said that Pramac he is honoured to have have Spies as part of their team. [Ducati had previously turned down Spies when he knocked on the Italian manufacturer’s door back in 2008 - the American then turned to World Superbikes in 2009 as a stepping stone to MotoGP].

“Pramac Racing Team is honoured to welcome Ben Spies, who has enormous talent and a spectacular riding style. We’re expecting a big challenge, but thanks to the important support of sponsor Ignite Asset Management and our new status as a Ducati factory-supported team, we are sure we will live up to expectations. With Ben, we’ll endeavour to speed up the development process on the bike to achieve our objectives as soon as possible. We’re enthusiastically looking forward to the 2013 season.”

Paolo Ciabatti, Ducati Corse MotoGP Project Director added: “We’re very pleased with the agreement we’ve reached with Ignite Pramac Racing Team for 2013, which has the Francesco Guidotti-run team taking on factory-supported status, with an even closer link to Ducati’s racing department. This is also demonstrated with the presence for the first time of Pramac Racing Team at Wrooom, the fantastic event taking place in Madonna di Campiglio. We’re very confident that Ben Spies will be able to use his talents to help us with the development of the bike and to achieve the results we’re after more quickly, and we thank the sponsor Ignite Asset Management for its support on this project.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

it's cold outdoor !

Watch the highlights from the 12 th stage of Dakar won by Nani Roma (Mini-Michelin).