The stage of Uyuni – Salta ran over the Bolivia-Argentina border, with riders at times competing on harsh terrain over 1,000 meters above sea level.
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While Price set a searing pace to claim his fifth stage victory aboard his KTM, Paulo Goncalves’ challenge for victory ended when a branch pierced his Honda’s radiator halfway through the test. Not all riders finished the stage after racing was halted because of safety concerns when a lightning storm hit.
“We’ve got through pretty good”, said Price to Dakar reporters on site.
In the bikes category, Tony Price took the day’s honors on a KTM for his third stage win this year.
The endurance motorcycle star completed the stage in four hours, 33 minutes and 14 seconds on Tuesday morning (ADST) to be 5:17 faster than next-best Goncalves.
Peugeot’s French driver Sebastien Loeb is helped to put his overturned vehicle back on its wheels during Stage 8 of the Dakar 2016.
“We had a good first week, no significant mistakes, and our objective was to get to the rest day in a good position”.
In 2010, in the second year of the race taking place in South America after it left Africa, a 4×4 piloted by the German-Swiss pair of Mirco Schultis and Ulrich Leardi was involved in a crash which left a 28-year-old female spectator dead. It’s great to keep an eye out for others. There were Australian flags at the finish of the special. “I’m happy to have finished well and tomorrow will be another day”, Brabec says.
At this point in time according to the official daily race report (that you can read in bold below), Goncalves will be given a group time along with all the riders who made it through to check point two and will be able to continue in the race if he can fix his damaged bike. I’m happy with the work we’ve done so far. It’s been a good day, I can’t complain.
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NICE SPOT: Toby Price powers through the picturesque landscapes of the Dakar Rally in Argentina and Bolivia. We’re in first at the moment.
