Dakar 2006 - Stage 3

[klaus]

stage 3 - Monday 2 January 2006 | Nador > Er Rachidia (http://www.dakar.com/2006/DAK/LIVE/us/300/parcours.html)
Connection 237 km
Special 314 km
Connection 121 km
Total 672 km




This is the First Stage in Africa after the Ferry ride from Spain

Something new to the East

He who looks will find. The fact that the title of the stage has appeared three times in the history of the rally will not be of much help, since the course of the special is totally new. Crossing the wadis, Morocco’s classic traps, will be on the menu, and the first major errors of navigation are to be anticipated. Those used to old-version GPS technology could pay the price for a tricky period of adaptation.

http://www.dakar.com/PHOTOS/DAK/2006/300/PARCOURS.gif

http://www.dakar.com/PHOTOS/DAK/2006/300/FRANCE_ETAPE.jpg

[klaus]

About Team Mark Miller:


Phone call in from Dirk von Zitzewitz: Mark and Dirk finished the stage well without any navigational errors since it was a simple loop course. There where no mechanical problems or flat tires. The supplied roadbook is not perfect and as usual contains corrections. For a while its known that speeds are rather fast. Dirk thinks that lots of them drive over their head and vehicle damages will happen to some. The atmosphere in the Volkswagen Team is perfect and temperatures are comfortable.
Statements from Mark Miller via Volkswagen Motorsports:



#309 - Mark Miller (USA), 7. Position-Day- / 7. Overall Position
“My co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz managed the tough navigation very well. The speed on top is unreal. Unfortunaly I ended up with some headaches, but those will be gone by tomorrow”
Mark’s Audio Update (http://www.usadakar.com/audio/stage_three.wav)

[klaus]

From Robby Gordon:


http://www.robbygordon.com/newsletters/dakar/header.jpg


ROBBY GORDON SCORES 5th OVERALL IN THIRD DAY OF DAKAR RALLY MOVES INTO TOP TEN

After two days of running on very tight, rain soaked roads in Portugal and Spain Robby Gordon and his “Dakar” H3 Hummer crossed over into North Africa and finally had a chance to show their true capabilities in terrain and weather that was almost perfect for the All-American combination. After completing the second stage in Spain, Gordon and teammate/navigator Darren Skilton spent the night with hundreds of other competitors on a ferry from Malaga, Spain, to Nador, Morocco for the start of this morning’s third stage of the 38th running of the famed Dakar Rally.

“This is where the competition really begins’, said Gordon at the start, “This North African terrain is some of the roughest in the world, a lot like Baja in some ways…a place where Hummers and American engineering can show their true mettle.”
Several grueling hours later Gordon was able to relax and savor the moment he’d been expecting since starting the Hummer program some 90 days earlier. Gordon had finished a stunning fifth overall, moving him into the Top 10, passing some of the top desert racing specialists in the world. “We were really looking forward to this stage, as we knew this would be our first chance to let our Hummer stretch its legs in the desert terrain for which it was designed,” said Gordon, looking relaxed and fresh at the end of the 314 kilometer leg of the race, which ended in the small city of Er Rachidia in Morocco. Today’s Nador-Er Rachidia stage was again divided into three smaller stages to provide a real world combination of road travel and flat out racing. The beginning and ending Liaison Stages, which move the competitors into and out of the more populous areas of the country, still allow the hundreds of thousands of fans who line the roads to see and cheer their favorites as they pass on the roads. The middle “Special Stage,” however, is the important timed run that counts for the overall score, and most importantly, the next morning’s starting slot, which is based upon the combination of times from the previous day’s runs. So today’s fantastic 5th overall finish for Gordon (with a time of 2 hours 52 minutes and 28 seconds) will definitely boost Gordon’s chances of winning his first stage of the Dakar tomorrow. Gordon, now officially eighth overall now has a real chance to duel with the race leaders. “This is exactly where I expected to be after three days and I’m really pleased with the Hummer’s performance.”
Gordon started 14th in Nador, a difficult and frustrating position he’d held due to the almost impossible passing conditions on the narrow and slippery European roads of the first two stages. In spite of the miserable circumstances on these first two days Gordon still had the tenacity and skill to improve his initial 35th starting position in Lisbon to 14th on the first day and then hold that spot through the second day’s competition which favored the multi-car, factory-backed, VW, Nissan and Mitsubishi racing specials, which have been developed over several seasons of competition specifically to win this all-important race.
By contrast, Gordon’s very polished but single-car effort for Hummer still looks quite small by comparison. Even more surprising is the minimal time Gordon had to design the car so he and his team could fabricate it; just 90 days. GM’s Hummer division, Jim Beam and Toyo Tires offered a combination of support that has certainly been squeezed for time but efficiently executed, making Gordon’s Hummer team a fan favorite who cheer for Gordon’s underdog position against the might of the giant European and Japanese factory efforts.
Gordon wryly admitted, after arriving in Er Rachidia, that he’d made an error at the start, which probably cost them the overall win for the stage. “We made a great run off the line, passing both Jean Louis Schlesser (the eventual winner) and Stephane Peterhansel’s Mitsubishi, but then I looked off to the left and saw one of the BMW X3s fast disappearing in the dust. Knowing how well this team had been doing I instinctively elected to follow and soon realized he was lost. Darren (Skilton), my navigator, had been tracking our line in the heavy dust and soon pointed out that we were seriously off-course; we had to double back and I suspect we lost at least two minutes.” Gordon eventually re-passed both Schlesser and Peterhansel, but his elapsed time for the stage still put the Hummer team in fifth overall 1 minute and 30 seconds behind the leaders. “This is an incredibly large and confusing area of the earth; it’s very easy to trust your racing instinct instead of the route book and your navigator…I won’t make that mistake again,” said Gordon. “The positive point of the lesson was that we were able to catch and repass both Schlesser and Peterhansel; that proved the Hummer’s capabilities for us and gives us tremendous confidence for tomorrow’s start."

The previous two day’s top finishers, Spanish WRC Champion, Carlos Sainz (VW Toureg) and Portuguese rally champion, Carlos Souza (Nissan Navarra) dropped back on today’s more difficult terrain. Sainz finished 12th with a time of 2 Hours 57 minutes, while Souza ended up 14th with 3 Hours and 31 seconds.
Gordon’s 2 Hours 52 Minutes places him 8th on the starting line for tomorrow’s fourth stage.



Image Gallery (http://www.robbygordon.com/cgi-bin/Imagefolio31/imageFolio.cgi?direct=03_OFF-ROAD/05_RALLY_RACING/DAKAR_2006)

[klaus]

From KTM:


RALLY
Dakar 2006: 3rd stage: Nador > Er Rachidia (02.01.2006)
----------------------------------------
Then Africa… And The Double Andys’ Day
Do You remember the scenery we were speaking about in our first contact? We are there now. Europe is now a souvenir, Mediterranean sea also. From now the main scene will be filled of the colors of the desert. Deep, dazzling blue and shining yellow in the first part of the journey, then red soil and green trees in the following one. Until the blue ocean. Anywhere a consisting risk of foggy dust. Not in Er Rachidia, the small town that the riders joined this afternoon at the end of the last connection section of the stage. In this scenario the pilots sometimes will meet rock mountains and plateau, but rarely. For sure they will encounter any kind of difficulties along their long travel across northern African mainland. But for the moment any kilometer covered by the riders is useful to the riders in order to tuning the bikes and themselves. It is very important to synchronize the characteristic of the conduit with that ones of the track. For example. Today’s stage was long and fast. Not the two transfer sections of 237 and 121 kms, but mainly the special test of 312 km. The riders encountered many changes of direction, and they have to face a speed limit monitor for the first time. “For me it was an annoying stage”, said the today’s new leader of the race Cyril Despres, “because of a new instrument installed on our console that we have to check continuously. The new rule of the Dakar impose a speed limit of 160 km/h (about 100 miles per hour), and a monitor connected with the GPS warn us when we are reaching this limit. Unfortunately it is the same alarm of the “sentinel”, the overtake warning. With the same “beep”. So with this new “entertainment” we are obliged to drive and open the gas intermittently. In addition I had a little problem with the bolts of the instrumentations, and the “traditionals” stony tracks of Morocco completed the today’s “Menu”. Anyway I finished third and I reached the goal. I am first overall and I am in the game. This is the most important.

If the leader of the race is now Gauloises KTM Team member Cyril Despres, the protagonists of today’ stage were the two “Andys”, Caldecott and Grider, In fact Andy Caldecott won the stage, and the Andy Grider was second. Both the Australian and the American are very satisfied: “To many rocks and stones everywhere, then many changes of direction“, said the Australian just after the finish line, “It was not a walk, but I am used to be fast when the track is fast, and I like very much large open spaces”.

For Andy Grider the first African stage of the rally was also the first African stage or his career: “Everything was new for me.” Asserts the debutant of the Red Bull KTM Team. “Our Manager Joe Barker has trained us in many tests in the American deserts, but this land is completely different. Every time you learn something and You can feel more and more confident. I enjoyed the stage, and all was under control. I started fast this morning. Rapidly the landscape changed. Suddenly I felt completely alone in the middle of the desert. But I also felt comfortable and I open the gas. In a few minutes I noticed far over there a cloud of dust. I forced and then I reached Andy (Caldecott). We drove together until the end of the special test, and there we discovered we were the first and the second of the rank.

Finally it was a good day also for Marc Coma, the Spaniard of the Repsol Team, that is second of the overall ranking tonight: “As we expect, the battle probably will be fight between me ad Cyril. So in the first days of the race we have to control each other. The most important in Moroccois to avoid any risk, falling down or damaging the bike. Then we will see. Of course the level of the participants has grown, and for sure we will face also other riders.”
Tomorrow’s stage will reach Ouarzazate. Over 600 kilometers southward. One more long special test is announced. A special test still fast and with navigation problems, but mainly with the first dunes that the riders will encounter in the long road to Dakar.
This night they will delight in the atmosphere of the first bivouac of the Rally.

Rankings:
3rd stage — Special: 314 km
Stage Results:
1. Caldecott (Repsol KTM) 03:21:11h
2. Grider (Red Bull USAKTM) +03:04
3. Despres (Gauloises KTM) +03:06
4. De Gavardo (Repsol KTM) + 03:27
5. Pellicer (KTM) + 04:11
6. Coma (Repsol KTM) + 05:45
7. Amaral (KTM) + 06:28
8. AgraCarrera (YAMAHA)+ 06:46
9. Blais (Red Bull USAKTM) + 06:55
10. Ullevalseter (KTM) + 07:08
11. Gau (Gauloises KTM) + 07:42
12. Fretigne (YAMAHA) + 08:00
13. Duclos (KTM) + 08:27
14. Sala (Repsol KTM) + 08:39
15. Katrinak (KTM) + 08:59
16. Rivera (KTM) + 09:16
17. Casteu (Gauloises KTM) + 09:28
18. Street (KTM) + 09:44
19. Verhoefen (YAMAHA) + 10:22
20. Esteve Pujol (Gauloises KTM) + 11:12
28.Viladoms (Repsol KTM) + 20:47

Overall Results:
1. Despres (Gauloises KTM), 06:03:12h
2. Coma (Repsol KTM), 06:04:28h, + 01:16
6. Pellicer (KTM), 06:04:51h, + 01:39
4. Caldecott (Repsol KTM), 06:06:53h, + 03:41, Penalty: 02:00
5. De Gavardo (Repsol KTM), 06:06:53h, + 03:41
6. Casteu (Gauloises KTM), 06:08:50h,+ 05:38
7. Fretigne (YAMAHA), 06:09:01h, + 05:49
8. Grider (Red Bull USAKTM), 06:09:12h, + 06:00
9. Esteve Pujol (Gauloises KTM), 06:09:47h,+ 06:35
10. AgraCarrera (YAMAHA), 06:10:33h, + 07:21
11. Duclos (KTM), 06:12:29h, + 09:17
12. Amaral (KTM), 06:13:23h, + 10:11
13. Blais (Red Bull USAKTM), 06:13:35h, + 10:23
14. Street (KTM), 06:15:01h, + 11:49
15. Gau (Gauloises KTM), 06:15:13, + 12:01
16. Katrinak (KTM), 06:16:23, + 13:11
17. Sala (Repsol KTM) 02:46:56 + 9:32
18. Farres Guell (YAMAHA), 06:17:04h, + 13:52
19. Verhoefen (YAMAHA), 06:17:56h, + 14:44, Penalty: 02:00
20. Rivera (KTM), 06:18:17h, + 15:05
24. Viladoms (Repsol KTM), 06:44:01h, + 06:37
...

[klaus]

Dakar 2006 Day Threee Torrent of Australian TV show. Playtime is 30 minutes.


DL Torrentdakar2006_day3.avi.torrent (http://www.torrentbox.com/download.php/26866/dakar2006_day3.avi.torrent)
Info hash08f543cca1fa4380fe957da8b71b756efed92d7e
CategoryTV (http://www.torrentbox.com/torrents-browse.php?cat=3)
Size232.72 MB (244023296 Bytes)
Added2006-01-03