DAKAR STAGE FOUR
After four stages, the HRC Honda team finally had a bad day in the second half of a Marathon stage. It wasn’t that bad, though, as Joan Barreda still holds the overall lead and was sixth on the stage.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t one of the KTMs that finally upstaged Honda. It was Sherco rider Juan Pedrero García, who has twice finished the rally in fifth.. Today he stole Chaleco López’s thunder at the finish line, beating the Chilean rider by just 29′ after four and a half hours of close racing. Marc Coma (+3’10’) finished third ahead of Israel Esquerre (+6’30’), while Cyril Despres was one of today’s losers after conceding 42’09’ in the latter half of the special.
In the motorcycle classification, three riders are separated by just over 5 minutes. Joan Barreda Bort is still in control with 3’10’ to spare on Marc Coma. Francisco ‘Chaleco’ López lies in third place, 5’12’ back. There is a 20-minute chasm between the Chilean rider and the next competitors, Alain Duclos (+25’55’), who was a bit less fortunate today, Olivier Pain (+29’38’) and Cyril Despres, who lost tons of time today and is 41’17’ back, just ahead of David Casteu.
STGE 4
1 PEDRERO GARCIA (ESP) Sherco
2 LOPEZ CONTARDO (CHL) KTM
3 COMA (ESP) KTM
4 ISRAEL ESQUERRE (CHL) Speedbrain
5 PAIN (FRA) Yamaha
Oddly enough, it wasn’t one of the KTMs that finally upstaged Honda. It was Sherco rider Juan Pedrero García, who has twice finished the rally in fifth.. Today he stole Chaleco López’s thunder at the finish line, beating the Chilean rider by just 29′ after four and a half hours of close racing. Marc Coma (+3’10’) finished third ahead of Israel Esquerre (+6’30’), while Cyril Despres was one of today’s losers after conceding 42’09’ in the latter half of the special.
In the motorcycle classification, three riders are separated by just over 5 minutes. Joan Barreda Bort is still in control with 3’10’ to spare on Marc Coma. Francisco ‘Chaleco’ López lies in third place, 5’12’ back. There is a 20-minute chasm between the Chilean rider and the next competitors, Alain Duclos (+25’55’), who was a bit less fortunate today, Olivier Pain (+29’38’) and Cyril Despres, who lost tons of time today and is 41’17’ back, just ahead of David Casteu.
STGE 4
1 PEDRERO GARCIA (ESP) Sherco
2 LOPEZ CONTARDO (CHL) KTM
3 COMA (ESP) KTM
4 ISRAEL ESQUERRE (CHL) Speedbrain
5 PAIN (FRA) Yamaha
OVERALL
1 BARREDA BORT (ESP)HONDA
2 COMA (ESP) KTM
3LOPEZ CONTARDO (CHL) KTM
4DUCLOS (FRA) Sherco
5 PAIN (FRA) YAM
2 COMA (ESP) KTM
3LOPEZ CONTARDO (CHL) KTM
4DUCLOS (FRA) Sherco
5 PAIN (FRA) YAM
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