Dakar led by Price following stage six at halfway point

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Section: Competition Post: Alex Gobert

Rookie Sanders claims another stage podium to climb in rankings.

Image: Supplied.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price leads the 2021 Dakar Rally at halfway after recording the seventh-quickest time on a shortened stage six.

Price has won two stages this year – one and three – in what has been a navigational challenge for many, but placed strongly entering week two.

“Today they cut about 100km out of the stage and that definitely helped us because it’s still been a really tough day out there,” Price reflected. “It took a while, but I managed to catch the two guys ahead of me and luckily we were able to keep up a really good pace right at the front.

“I did have one little get-off that twisted the road book tower a little bit, but apart from that there were no problems. It feels great to have taken the overall lead, but after such an up and down week the most important thing is we’re fit and in good shape for the second half of the rally.”

With a total time of 24h08m43s, Price leads Kevin Benavides (Monster Energy Honda) by 2m16s, with Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Monster Energy Honda) currently third overall.

KTM Factory Racing team newcomer Daniel Sanders once again claimed a top-three stage finish on Friday in third position, now ranked an impressive 12th overall and top of the rookies by over an hour.

“It was definitely a physical one today, that’s for sure, and on top of yesterday, it’s been a really tough couple of days,” Sanders said. “I tried my best to make up time today and think I did a good job. This first week has gone well, I’ve certainly learned a lot too and I’m happy with my pace – we’ve still got a long way to go.”

Of the remaining Australian riders in the field, Michael Burgess (BAS Dakar KTM Racing Team) currently sits 38th overall and Andrew Houlihan (Nomadas Adventure KTM) in 61st place

Tyler Monagan Claims He Was Targeted For Building Motocross Track

Tyler Monagan Claims He Was Targeted For Building Motocross Track

By: Steven Symes 

YouTuber Tyler Monagan, who boasts nearly 700,000 subscribers, is a self-proclaimed dirt bike fanatic. His videos include everything from bike reviews to interesting builds. With his extreme love of motocross, the man decided to buy a large piece of property in a town, thinking he would have the privacy and freedom to build a track and race bikes with his friends. That’s when the trouble began.

Monagan started using machinery to move dirt on his land, creating jumps and other features for his MX track. That’s when a town official showed up to his house to let him know that moving dirt on his property wasn’t something he could do without a permit. Monagan claims that as he asked questions the details of what he was and wasn’t allowed to do with his own property changed, and thus began the legal battle.

© Provided by Motorious image credit: YouTube

For months, Monagan said he stayed quite about the whole legal battle. He said now “everything’s done with” and so he now feels comfortable spilling some of the details. However, he stated that he wouldn’t be surprised if “something else pops up.” In other words, the man still feels targeted and believes there are those who are purposely gunning for him.

We know this isn’t the first time someone has had a run-in with government authorities about what they can and can’t do on their own private property. This is a touch, controversial issue, especially these days.

Voice of Supercross Steps Away

After 14 years as the play by play voice of Supercross Ralph Sheheen is moving on to other platforms. For more information on this transition go to Ralph's column at  www.speedsport.com.

2021 Suzuki Supercross Team

BAR X/Chaparral/ECSTAR Suzuki confirm 2021 Supercross rider line up

BAR X/Chaparral/ECSTAR Suzuki is excited to announce its four-rider 250 class team for the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross series. All four riders will compete on the 2021 Suzuki RM-Z250 and benefit from the exceptional support of Suzuki’s RM Army support program.

The BAR X/Chaparral/ECSTAR Suzuki team becomes the premier Suzuki 250 Supercross team after demonstrating excellent performance in the amateur ranks over the past several years. Team Manager Larry Brooks will field an impressive group of young Suzuki riders as they challenge for podiums and race wins throughout the 2021 Supercross season.

“BAR X and Suzuki have worked hard the last few years building our program with top amateur athletes, and competing in select pro events,” said Larry Brooks Team Manager of the BAR X/Suzuki Team. “We feel we are in a great place to take the next step and become the primary 250 class program for Suzuki. We are dedicated to competing with the best and making sure the RM-Z250 is up front when the gate drops for the 2021 Race Season.”

The BAR X/Chaparral/ECSTAR Suzuki Racing Team will feature a group of fresh and hungry young riders including Dylan Schwartz, and Derek Drake on the West Coast, and John Short and Sean Cantrell heading up the team’s East Coast Supercross roster. The BAR X/Chaparral/ECSTAR Suzuki Team will be competing on the 2021 Suzuki RM-Z250 and also have the added support of ECSTAR Suzuki Oil and Chemicals as well as benefit from the Suzuki RM Army support program.

“We are thrilled to partner with the BAR X/Chaparral/ECSTAR program as our Suzuki Supercross 250 class racing team for 2021,” said Chris Wheeler, Suzuki’s Racing Manager. “BAR X’s solid experience and growth in the 250 class make them a solid and exciting partner for our 2021 racing efforts,” added Wheeler.

Big Signings 2021 Supercross

2021 Team Honda

Dakar Stage 5

Dakar 2021, Stage 5: Benavides takes overall lead with win

 

 

By:

Jamie Klein

Jan 7, 2021, 11:06 AM

Honda rider Kevin Benavides became the sixth different outright leader of the motorcycle category in the 2021 Dakar Rally after grabbing his first stage win of the Saudi Arabian event.

Benavides went into Thursday's 456km Riyadh-Al Qaisumah stage third overall and 3m24s off overnight leader Xavier de Soultrait, but only 14th in the running order owing to his finishing position on the previous day's test.

That put in the Argentinian in a good position to fight for the win, as he spent the stage battling his junior Honda colleague and fellow South American Jose Ignacio Cornejo.

Having trailed by five minutes at the 74km mark, Benavides clawed back that time over the remainder of the stage, despite reportedly suffering a crash and injuring his nose just after the 330km mark, finishing exactly one minute clear of Cornejo.

A late surge by KTM man Toby Price left the Australian a strong third, just 20 seconds further back, while Sherco rider Lorenzo Santolino was an impressive fourth ahead of another factory KTM rider, Sam Sunderland.

Husqvarna privateer de Soultrait was sixth on the day, and lost only one place overall to sit just 2m31s behind new leader Benavides in the standings.

Cornejo meanwhile has leapt from ninth to third, 3m42s back, with Price only one second behind the Chilean in fourth and Sunderland completing a tightly-bunched top five.

Wednesday's stage winner Joan Barreda continued the established trend of the rider opening the road suffering as he gave away some 19 minutes to teammate Benavides, losing almost all of that time with an early navigational error.

Having gone into the day only 15s away from the head of the standings, the Spaniard has slipped to ninth, 14m02s away from the lead.

Reigning champion Ricky Brabec's tactic of deliberately slowing on Wednesday's stage to give himself a better road position didn't pay dividends, as he ended up losing 14 minutes to Benavides. He did however gain one position overall, moving up to 14th.

Yamaha rider Adrian van Beveren's hopes of challenging for the podium look to be over after the Frenchman dropped nearly 40 minutes after getting lost early in the stage.

That leaves Ross Branch as the marque's only realistic hope of a top result, with the Botswanan rider holding eighth behind erstwhile leader Skyler Howes (KTM).

Shane McElrath injured

450 Supercross debut will be delayed.

Shane McElrath has been injured just a couple of weeks away from making his 450 debut with MCR Honda.

The premier 250 racer for the last few years was expected to be strong indoors but a dislocated shoulder will delay the 450 rookies appearance in the premier class.

Shane said: “Bummer to say I crashed last week and ended up with a grade 3 AC separation in my right shoulder. I’m down for the time being but I’ll be back.” 

Dakar Stage 4

Team Muc-Off Honda

Muc-Off Honda, run by Australian Yarrive Konsky, will be competing in the premier division of the US world championship: Monster Energy AMA Supercross as well as select European rounds during 2021. 450SX - Justin Brayton #10 250SX East - Mitchell Oldenburg #49 250SX West - Mitchell Harrison #35 Muc-Off is motorcyling's care and maintenance household name. The brand was founded in 1994 when Rex and Marylin Trimnell, owner of bike components brand X-Lite at the time, needed a cleaner they could rely on to keep their bikes not only clean, but free from corrosion. After designing and manufacturing the world’s first twin crown bicycle fork, Rex created a perfectly pink spray to clean his kit. To make a long story short, Rex’s cleaner was the best thing since sliced bread, and it wasn’t long before word got out and Muc-Off was born. 25 years later and Muc-Off has developed its product range to include every bike cleaning solution imaginable, but also a range of tour-winning lubes, bike protectant sprays and a whole lot more. With some of the best athletes in the world crash-testing the products and providing valuable feedback to Muc-Off’s team of expert product developers, you can rest assured that your bike is in good hands.