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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Off Topics → The Dakar Rally
The Dakar Rally is about to start. I want to wish Robby Gordon the best of luck in the race and the overall victory in the 2010 Dakar Rally.
Robby has 3 Hummers and 1 truck entered in the race this year.
You can fallow Robby’s trek though the grueling 15 days of The Dakar Rally.
Good Luck Robby and all of Gordon Motor Sports,
Bill
Robby Gordon Motorsports is off to a good start. Robby is running 6th, second team car BJ Baldwin is running 19th, Third team car De gavardo is in 39th.
Best of luck to RGM.
Hey Bill, here's another fan. My son is an open wheel guy (can't afford the tariff to race formula Mazda so he's an engineer) and my partner is a hard core vet moto-x and enduro biker. We supported the US effort in the last African Dakar testing in the US by the KTM team and contributed to a privateer. Cars in that race are crazy. Motorcycles are nuts. This racing is beyond extreme! Go Robby. Rick
Not a good day for RGM...
Fiambala, Argentina (January 4, 2010) – Unfortunate circumstances plagued Team
HUMMER this afternoon in the dune sections of Stage 3. The team had first
thought that the these set of dunes would be a good stage for the HUMMERs but
due to a smaller restrictor cutting the horsepower down, the HUMMERs couldn’t
carry the momentum needed to get through the heavy sand that was featured during
Stage 3. Robby Gordon said his HUMMER won’t run the dunes in 2nd gear and for
that reason he got stuck and lost valuable time to the leaders.
Robby Gordon talked about his performance during Stage 3, “I feel we are at a major
disadvantage when it comes to restrictors. My top speed is about 165mph and the
Volkswagens’ are going 190mph. Plus my Monster Energy / Toyo Tires HUMMER needs
to carry extra weight because of the fuel mileage we get. The sand dunes in
this stage needed the car to have forward momentum to get through them. I would
run up and try to come down and get stuck. For tomorrow we’ll move on and drive
again.”
Robby Gordon would end up in 12th place in his Monster Energy / Toyo Tires
HUMMER for the stage and now 1 hour and 4 minutes down to the overall leader in
9th place. That’s not the only disappointment of the day. Around kilometer 57
the Vanguard HUMMER had a transmission failure and was forced to be towed in
along with Carlo De Gavardo having clutch problems 10 kilometers before the
Vanguard HUMMER had its issues. They were both able to make it to the bivouac
after getting a tow from one of Team HUMMERs’ support trucks.
All in all it’s a day that the team would like to soon forget. They will
regroup tonight in Fiambala and try to make the best of tomorrow’s Stage 4.
Stage 4 is set from Fiambala to Copiapo, a liaison for 394 kilometers and a
special that will be 203 kilometers. Another 32 kilometer liaison back to the
bivouac in total distance of 629 kilometers. The first car is set to leave the
bivouac at 6:05 am with the special starting at 12:05 pm local time.
Standings
Cars
RG........(302)......9th....+01:04:54.....Penalty....0:0
Chile.....(326).....33rd....+04:25:49.....Penalty....0:0 DQ
BJ.........(351).....87th....+11:33:57.....Penalty....0:0
Trucks
RGM.....(528).....22th...+06:53:30.....Penalty....0:0
Americans,
Mark Miller..... Car....(305)......4th....+00:13:12.....Penalty....0:0
Jonah Street.... Bike....(024).......6th...+00:33:26......Penalty...0:0
Hang in there guys.
Nice report Bill.
There's no way the big cars can win against the VW team with the restrictors. Light weight is going to break less too so it looks like the small displacement cars have a big edge.
edit. nice to see that our biker friend Jonah Street is hanging in there. He is a threat to find an overall podium IMO.
Rick
Robby Gordon won todays stage of the Dakar Rally. Teammate BJ Baldwin finished in 8th. Great job for Team Hummer USA....
Breaking News!
19:53 - Car
302 - Gordon takes the lead... for one tiny second!...
After starting 11th this morning, US driver Robby Gordon (Hummer) finished the day’s special stage in 1h40’21, a time that gives him his third special stage victory on the Dakar as he finishes one tiny little second ahead of Stéphane Peterhansel (BMW).
Robby Gordon: "A special stage victory means nothing to us"
http://www.dakar.com/AUDIOS/DAKAR/2010/ … etape4.mp3
Today’s special stage was perfect for us with a lot of camel grass. It’s on this type of terrain that the Hummer is doing great. Today was a good day. I am glad we managed to recover from yesterday. I got stuck twice yesterday and the engine overheated. We lost one hour. It’s sad but the race is still long. We only had 4 days of raid so far. A stage victory means nothing to us. It’s the final victory we are in for. I have been very careful during the first two days and yesterday we lost one hour. I am sure that today we managed to climb up in the standings and we will see how Chile will treat us. We should be good in the sand dunes. We have worked a lot on the car. Last year we were very close to winning special stages. We often finished second just for a few seconds. Today we win for one second. We have managed to reach the level of the best drivers in the desert but they are much better than we are in WRC-type stages. This year, we did not lose as much time as last year in these WRC special stages. The gap is smaller so it will be up to us to work even harder to win this raid.
Nice results for Jonah and Robby. Not a lot of USA participants this year.
Hey Bill, saw in another post your kid is into karts. Which class? Hope fun is had but not too much. If there is real talent, it gets very expensive in a hurry. Racing against deep pockets with no sponsorship is tough.
Rick
Nice results for Jonah and Robby. Not a lot of USA participants this year.
Hey Bill, saw in another post your kid is into karts. Which class? Hope fun is had but not too much. If there is real talent, it gets very expensive in a hurry. Racing against deep pockets with no sponsorship is tough.
Rick
She raced Kids Kart last year and finished 5th overall. It' has been very expensive. We will try something else this year, too many kids getting flipped out of their karts. I want something with a full cage.
Take care,
Bill
Stage 5
Congratulations to American Mark Miller for his first ever Stage win in the Dakar Rally. Driving for Team VW, Mark is 2nd Overall behind Teammate and leader Carlos Sainz.
A first for Miller
The first 6 cars have now completed the fifth special stage and US driver Mark Miller (VW) wins the day’s special stage - his first stage victory in the Dakar - respectively 2’10 and 4’27 ahead of his team mates Spain’s Carlos Sainz (VW) and Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah (VW). In the overall standings, "El Matador" Sainz benefits from the misfortune of Peterhansel (BMW) and takes the lead.
Miller's response.........
http://www.dakar.com/AUDIOS/DAKAR/2010/ … etape5.mp3
What a great day. We had a conversation last night and decided to keep up the same pace. This is what we did today; we did not take any chances. On the very rocky part I was super careful. I don’t know but maybe starting later helped us. We never had any problem. We never had to get out of the car. I would say it was the perfect day. Today was the first big day of the Dakar. We were aware of it... all of us. The Dakar really started today and we are in the top positions. Today we stopped playing kiddies. There are still a few long days in the sand dunes. There will be gaps and we hope the tide will turn in our favor. Arriving here I was sure Robby Gordon had won the stage. This was his kind of stage. I am really surprised that the Volkswagen could keep up with the Hummer. Robbie is not in here for the party; he means business so congratulations to the guys in blue.
Robby Gordon was 4th in today’s Stage. Robby is now 4th overall, 00:59.00 back.
http://www.dakar.com/AUDIOS/DAKAR/2010/ … etape5.mp3
BJ Baldwin was 12th in today’s Stage. BJ is now 16th overall, 12:08.20 back.
Jonah Street was 12th in todays Stage Street is now 6th overall.
Still 8 stages remaining.
Here are some great in car videos:
http://www.robbygordon.com/news/
Stage 6
Robby Gordon Quote, “ we screwed it up today big time” one of the whip lines for the tire inflation system got tangled and lost air to the rear tires and burned up the compressor for the inflation system and got stuck for a long time.
R.Gordon: 17th in the stage now 6th overall, down 1:43.40
BJ. Baldwin: 15th in the stage. 32nd overall, down 12:49.14
M. Miller: Still running very strong 3 in the stage and 3rd overall down 17:47
J. Street: 9th in the stage and is 7th overall.
Stage 7
Another disastrous day for Robby Gordon, The alternator went out and had to wait for BJ to take his. BJ was having his own problems, after 3 flats BJ limped to Robby on a front flat.
R. Gordon: 24th in the stage, 10th overall, down 4:25.10
BJ Baldwin: 25th in the stage, 27th overall, down 15:40.12
M. Miller: Still running very strong 4 in the stage and 3rd overall down 22:06
J. Street: 15th in the stage and is 7th overall. Down 2:06.08
Stage 8
Same story different stage more problems for Team Hummer.
R. Gordon: 10th in the stage, 10th overall, down 5:01.24
BJ Baldwin: 13th in the stage, 23th overall, down 16:33.36
M. Miller: 3rd in the stage and 3rd overall down 00:22:28
Bike
J. Street: 13th in the stage and is 7th overall. Down 02:28.02
Some great footage and interview can be found here;
http://www.robbygordon.com/
http://www.planetrobby.com/
Stage 9
N. Al-Attiyah won today’s stage. 2nd was teammate C. Sainz and 3rd was teammate M. Miller. Robby Gordon was 12th on the stage.
5 Stages remaining
Overall Standing:
C. Sainz 1st overall
N. Al-Attiyah 2nd +00:08:36
M. Miller 3rd +00:27:17
R. Gordon 9th +05:34:20
BJ Baldwin 23rd +19:33:33
Bikes
J.Street 13th on the stage, 7th overall
Stage 10
Carlos Sainz won today’s stage. Teammate M. Miller was 3rd. Robby Gordon finished 9th on the stage and teammate Baldwin in 21st.
Audio Interview
Mark Miller
http://www.dakar.com/AUDIOS/DAKAR/2010/ … tape10.mp3
4 Stages remaining.
Overall Standing:
C. Sainz 1st overall
N. Al-Attiyah 2nd +00:10:06
M. Miller 3rd +00:28:19
R. Gordon 9th +05:43:56
BJ Baldwin 21st +20:08:30
Bikes:
C. Despres is the leader.
J.Street 9th on the stage, 7th overall + 02:40:13
Racing luck or lack of it seems to have taken its toll on the US driver contingent. The old pros of this are proving once again their dominance is not a fluke.
Racing luck or lack of it seems to have taken its toll on the US driver contingent. The old pros of this are proving once again their dominance is not a fluke.
Mark Miller still has a good chance to win, in a VW.
Since Hummer sold has been to a Chinese company, let’s hope GM will stick with Robby next year. It would be cool to see Robby running the Dakar in a Camaro or a Covette. Look out!
Stage 11
It looks like the VW team is starting to play it safe until the end. VW finished 3rd, 4th, 5th & 9th was the overall race leader C. Saintz.
Mark Miller interview:
http://www.dakar.com/AUDIOS/DAKAR/2010/ … tape11.mp3
Team Hummer had a good day, Robby started 9th and finished 7th. BJ Started 26th and finished 7th on the stage.
Overall Standings:
C. Santz is 1st
M. Miller is 3rd +00:23:40
R. Gordon is 10th +05:31:48
BJ Baidwin is 17th +20:16:31
Bike’s
J. Street had a great stage finishing 2nd and still 7th overall +02:35:55
Yeah, looks like the race is over. The top guys are in cruise mode now for the overall spots and there are opportunities for the rest to do well in the stages. No one with a big lead will risk it by taking chances now. Rick
Stage 12
It looks like the VW team is 1, 2, 3 on the stage won by C. Saintz.
Team Hummer had a good day, Robby started 7th and finished 5th. BJ 13 th on the stage.
Overall Standings:
C. Santz is 1st
M. Miller is 3rd +00:28:12
R. Gordon is 8th +05:52:34
BJ Baidwin is 13th +21:04:37
Bike’s
J. Street had a great stage finishing 10th and still 7th overall +02:37:23
14th and final stage of the Dakar Rally is over.
It looks like the VW team is 1, 2 on the stage won by Al-Attiyah then C. Saintz in 2nd 00:00:36 back.
Team Hummer had a good day, Robby started 7th and finished 9th. BJ 13th on the stage.
Dakar 2010 Overall Standings:
C. Santz is 1st
N. Al-Attiyah 2nd +00:02:12
M. Miller is 3rd +00:32:51
R. Gordon is 8th +06:02:24
BJ Baidwin is 13th +21:17:00
Bike’s
J. Street had a great stage finishing 12th and still 7th overall +02:49:43
Time for Datona
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