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Honda Leads Dakar

The second week of the Dakar 2024 was kicked off with José Ignacio Cornejo cementing his status as one of the favourites for the top step in Yanbu as he put in a flawless ride. The Monster Energy Honda Team riders were refreshed after a rest day in Riyadh and if they were expecting an easier return on stage seven then the organisers had other plans. The 483 km special was going to feature some perplexing navigation on small winding gravel tracks around eye-catching canyons, off-piste wadis, a couple of dune sections and adding to this was a total 390 km of liaison as they headed to Al Duwadimi.

Cornejo went into this final week just out of the podium positions, his teammate Adrien Van Beveren had taken the final spot after his faultless 48 Hour Chrono win so the Chilean’s aim was to get back in the hunt.  In spite of a small fall he carved out over a three minute gap to reigning World Rally-Raid champion Luciano Benavides.  Achieving his goal he is now back into third, just six minutes 48 seconds off leader Ricky Brabec.

As the 2020 Dakar Rally winner and with vast experience in the world of rally-raid,  Brabec has been consistent since the start in AlUla where he’s been in the top three of the overall standings before nabbing the top spot after the 48 Hour Chrono on Friday. Catching teammate Adrien Van Beveren and  Toby Price during the stage today, he joined in for a share of the bonuses gaining nearly four minutes. His fifth place finish was just enough to keep him at the top of the overall standings by the narrowest of margins to  Ross Branch.  An astonishing single second separates them after 32 hours of rallying!

First one out onto the stage, Adrien Van Beveren was always going to find it a tough ask to not lose time today. After conquering the dunes at the end of last week, a change of terrain and complicated navigation saw him end the day in a very frustrating ninth.  Despite the stage six winner hoovering up over five minutes in bonuses, the gap to Brabec in the overall standings has increased to over fourteen minutes and has dropped him off the podium.  A better starting position tomorrow should help to rectify things. 

The 48 Hour Chrono derailed Pablo Quintanilla’s shot at overall victory and although his aim was to end the rally strongly for world championship points, he suffered another setback today 112 km into the stage. Suffering from a mechanical issue he eventually got to the finish line two and half hours behind Cornejo on a long day for the Chilean rider.

The intensity of this 46th edition of the Dakar continues as the team heads into the final five days of rallying with a total of 678 km on the bike tomorrow, 458 km making up the special stage.  Although the organisers have said stage eight from Al Duwadimi to Ha’il will be easier than the previous days, rocky terrain is back on the route tomorrow and it won’t favour every rider.         

Luciano Benavides, thoroughly rejuvenated following the rest day, battled through the extensive and challenging stage seven of the 2024 Dakar Rally to secure the second-fastest time. Maintaining his eighth-place position in the provisional overall rankings, the Husqvarna Factory Racing rider now has his sights set on carrying his momentum and speed into day eight of the race.

It was another challenging day in the desert for all competitors as the 2024 Dakar Rally headed into week two. With a total distance of 873 kilometres ahead of him, Benavides set off into the stage well-rested after his day off. The time to relax and regroup undoubtedly paid off for the Argentinian. Sixth into the special, Luciano got his head down and pushed hard right from the start. 

Maintaining a consistent speed throughout the challenging 483-kilometre special, which took competitors along winding, rocky paths before transitioning into a stretch of dunes, Benavides steadily improved his position to ultimately secure his runner-up finish. The excellent result ensures the FR 450 Rally rider retained his eighth-place position in the overall rankings with five stages left to complete.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Kevin Benavides has finished third on a tough and physically demanding seventh stage at the 2024 Dakar Rally. The KTM 450 RALLY racer now lies fifth overall in the provisional standings. Also delivering a strong performance on the long stage, Toby Price posted the eighth fastest time and sits one place behind his teammate in sixth overall.

Returning to action following their well-deserved rest day, riders were immediately put to the test as they tackled the longest stage of this year’s event – the 873-kilometer stage seven. After initially navigating through a maze of canyons and rocky tracks, competitors then faced an intense section of dunes to complete the 483-kilometer timed special.

Following on from his seventh-place result on the rally’s 48-hour marathon stage, Benavides used today’s later start position to the best of his advantage, pushing hard with the goal of chasing down the riders ahead. Midway through the special, Kevin moved into the top two on the timesheets, locked in a closely fought battle for the lead. Crossing the line as second-fastest, a subsequent three-minute penalty knocked him down to third. However, the Argentinian’s result was still strong enough to elevate him up to fifth overall in the provisional standings.

As the second rider to enter stage seven, Price soon caught up with the one rider ahead of him and assisted in opening the special. Despite not making too many errors, and accumulating close to four minutes in bonus time, Toby ultimately lost out on the rider behind following in his wheel tracks. Completing the stage in eighth place, the Australian now lies sixth in the overall standings with five days left to race.

After enjoying a little down time on yesterday’s Dakar Rally rest day, Daniel Sanders was back in action today on stage seven and clocked in with the sixth-fastest time. Starting from fourth into the special, sixth is certainly a solid result with the Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing star remaining seventh overall and positive of even better days ahead.

Feeling fresh after delivering an outstanding result on the chrono stage and making the most of the Dakar Rally rest day, Sanders certainly came out swinging on stage seven. Even though he didn’t have the most favorable starting position after placing fourth on Friday, Chucky dug deep to deliver another strong result. By relying on his roadbook early on then following the dust kicked up by the leading riders, Daniel would ultimately finish the 483-kilometer timed special as the sixth-fastest rider.

Muddy Moto Is Nothing New!

A champion or two in this picture

Sexton, Tomac and SF Mud!

Mud, Mud and more Mud. Chase races to the win.

Rain, and plenty of it. That was the order of the day here in San Francisco, and thanks to abundant precipitation, both during the week and just about all day on race day, round two of Monster Energy AMA Supercross was a destined to be a mudder for the ages before the first gate even dropped. And when the rain intensified about halfway through the night program, so did the uncertainty of how things might play out in the main events. But who benefitted, and who came up on the losing end of the murky puddles in Oracle Park? Let’s splash into this week’s Saturday Night Live to find out.

The biggest winner of the night, quite literally, was Chase Sexton. The Red Bull KTM rider followed the book to the letter on how to win a mud race by getting out front, building a gap, and avoiding any mistakes that could take his wheels out from underneath him. The result? A brilliant performance, in which he led every single lap, and took over the points lead from Jett Lawrence. But even after such a great night, Sexton acknowledged that mud races are an outlier, and aren’t necessarily an indicator of how well he and his bike are performing.

“I didn't think we'd get here this fast, to be honest,” Sexton said on his comfort level and having the points lead. “I thought I was gonna really have to be patient and just trying to work into a good position with the bike and I knew it was gonna take a lot of time. We were testing some big, big changes the week of Anaheim. So, the week before Anaheim, they got me pretty comfortable with the rear of the bike. I was pretty happy with it, but it wasn't complete yet and this week we did some big changes and I feel like we're getting really, really close…I mean, we are good but there's always a little small stuff you can make [better].”

“I think from here on out…I expect myself to battle with Jett and whoever's up there,” Sexton continued. “Honestly, it could be a different podium every weekend, there's so many good guys that you can't really single out one person. It's gonna be a brawl and I'm here for it and definitely think I'm in the right head space and position to battle for wins for the rest of the season.”

As well as Sexton rode, there were moments when it seemed as though Eli Tomac would weigh in on who would be standing in the middle of the podium at the end of the night. After fighting his way into second place, Tomac was still figuring out the fastest way around the track. Sexton was faster in these early stages, but Tomac, who was a good 12 seconds back of Sexton at one point, started closing in on the lead as the race wore on. Tomac was able to get it down to about three seconds, but was never able to get close enough to put any moves on Sexton. He’d finish the night in second, while also jumping up to third overall in the standings.

“You know, my goal was to get on the podium,” Tomac said expectation wise heading into Saturday’s race after saying he simply "underperformed" at the opener. “I mean, that was my mindset and that's how good I felt physically. So, I wasn't like limping my in here at all. So, yeah, this is where I wanna be and where I hope to be. You know, Anaheim 1 was obviously really tough for me. Was just totally off, rode, really tight and there was nothing good about it. But here, put myself in a great position off the start there. So, key to be at least top three, you know, or in the front, like a couple of guys here did not get sprayed with mud when you go through that first turn. So that was my focus for the main and was able to execute that and then just try to stay on two wheels at that point.”

“It was one of the tougher ones,” Tomac put it simply in the post-race press conference.

Jeff Would Have Liked SF Supercross

Jeff Smith two time 500cc World MX Champion before the two stroke took over would be right at home on today's four strokes.

Quotes From the SF Mudder

Results, Podium Quotes and More From San Francisco Supercross

by Slaw Dog January 14, 2024,

Whelp, it took all of two rounds to get our first mudder of the year. I’m not a fan of mudders, but hey, that’s why we go racing.

Scroll below for podium quotes, results and more from round 2 of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship.

Whelp, it took all of two rounds to get our first mudder of the year. I’m not a fan of mudders, but hey, that’s why we go racing.

Scroll below for podium quotes, results and more from round 2 of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship.

450SX Podium Quotes

Chase Sexton

“Leading the race in a mud situation, it’s obviously where you want to be because you’re not getting roosted, but it also seems like it lasts forever. The first couple laps when I was by myself and I wasn’t dealing with lapped traffic it felt, not easy, but I had a good flow and was able to hit my lines. Then once we got into lapped traffic, that’s when the race kinda starts and being able to pick around those guys is key… It’s tough not to make a mistake out there but I was fairly consistent every lap and was pretty happy with how consistent I was.”

Eli Tomac

“It was tough. It was like, it started out really thick, and then it stayed thick enough even with all that water. A lot of times when it’s just pure rain the whole time it’s not too bad because the ruts don’t get super deep and you’re kinda just spraying it around. But this one… I went in [an inside rut] one time and got stuck for like a second or two. It was one of those tracks where it was just heavy dirt, super deep ruts. And then there was another time in the second rhythm section I almost looped out because I grabbed a handful of throttle and hung off the back. But this was one of the tougher ones.”

Ken Roczen

“My mindset was [focused on] getting going. As soon as I got going I’m like, ‘Okay, this is 15 minutes, this is enough time, with people struggling going left and right… we can still make something happen.’ So I really just put my head down and charged forward. I was kinda blown away and really happy at the same time that I caught up to the field quick and was able to just pick people off left and right… I just wanted to go and go and kinda try to have fun with it.”

Sometimes Karma Is Good

Vince Friese Penalized Three Positions In Heat Race San Francisco!

MotoConcepts Honda’s Vince Friese was penalized in the 450 Heat Race for skipping the whoops and gaining a position. He was in a transfer position before this happened, but he was docked three positions and finished in 12th place. Did karma kick Friese? The LCQ race for Vince was very good; he took the holeshot early and led the entire race with some sketchy moments until his engine stopped, and it was done.

Do Tear Offs Work...Ask Kick Start Kenny

Roczen on San Francisco – “Couldn’t Pull The Tear Off And Ended up Stalling”

HEP Ecstar Proggresive Suzuki Ken Roczen finished third in 450 Main Event in San Francisco last night, 27 seconds behind defending champion Sexton. That’s enough for third place in the extremely difficult conditions – ahead of his surprisingly strong Suzuki teammate Shane McElrath, who sets a personal best.

Ken Roczen: “I didn’t know where I was for a while. I wanted to stick with it and try to have fun somehow. I also wanted to protect the bike and was accordingly hesitant with the clutch. I’m really happy. Thanks to the team and mine Mechanic. After I was third, I thought I wanted to secure the podium. At the finish line, a weight fell off my shoulders.”

Insane day in SF. Some of the heaviest mud i have ever ridden in supercross, hands down.

First off i was glad to make i through the heat race with a 3rd. I did NOT want to go to the LCQ and we all know with those kind of conditions that can happen real quick.

Awesome start in the main too with @chasesexton and i getting there. I went around the first turn 1st but completely blind and couldn’t pull the tear off and ended up stalling it. I just sat there like a dingle berry 

I was in disbelief as a start like that was key was to a successful night.
Once i got her fired up we went to work and i went from pretty much probably last all the way up to 3rd and secured my first podium of 2024 

Thank you to my team @hepmotorsports , @l_brooks for being by my side and @billy_hartle for making my bike run top notch

Sexton Floats Above All Others

Defending 450SX champion Sexton wins wet San Francisco

Motoonline: Competition Post: Alex Gobert

Smith delivers Star Racing 250SX victory to claim the points lead.

Image: Octopi Media.

It was a wire-to-wire win for defending champion Chase Sexton in the toughest of conditions at San Francisco’s second round of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship, as Jordon Smith won the 250SX West main event.

Sexton holeshot the 450SX main event and managed the race from there, leading the entirety of the shortened race to head Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) by 7.459s as the checkered flag flew.

Completing the podium was Ken Roczen (Progressive Ecstar Suzuki), directly ahead of HEP Motorsports teammate Shane McElrath (Twisted Tea Suzuki), while top-qualifier Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM) filled the top five after enduring his share of trouble in the race.

Positions six through 10 featured Dylan Ferrandis (Phoenix Racing Honda), opening heat winner Jorge Prado (Red Bull GasGas), Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) and Team Honda HRC’s Lawrence brothers, Jett and Hunter in that order. Following their podiums at the opener, Cooper Webb (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) and Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki) were 11th and 12th.

It’s now Sexton who has reclaimed the red plate in the premier class, seven points ahead of Anaheim 1 winner Lawrence, and with Tomac climbing to third position in the title-chase just two rounds into the new season.

A commanding ride from Smith saw the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing veteran charge to his first victory in almost five years, jumping into the lead early and maintaining it from there.

A charging Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) climbed from as far back as ninth on the opening lap to finish within 0.913s in second position, also making it two podiums in a row to open the year alongside Smith.

Completing the podium was Garrett Marchbanks after making a last lap move on FXR ClubMX Yamaha teammate Phil Nicoletti – the pair almost a full minute back from the leaders. Finishing fifth was Carson Mumford (MotoConcepts Honda).

The final riders to remain on the lead-lap were Anthony Bourdon (BarX Suzuki), Joshua Varize (AJE Motorsports GasGas) and Hunter Yoder (Partzilla PRMX Kawasaki), with round one winner RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) and Mitchell Oldenburg (MotoConcepts Honda).

It’s now Smith who holds the championship advantage, five points clear of Kitchen, with Hampshire dropping to third following a race of attrition in the Bay Area. Round three of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Championship will be next Saturday in San Diego.

SF Supercross...A Little Wet!

 Oracle Park mud fest.