Dakar 2012 Stage 8 - Coma takes the lead amid controversy
Rain and cold weather has been a factor in the stages around the Andes this year, and proved to be so again on Stage 8, despite the rocks and dry, powder-like sand that characterised much of the stage. A mud-choked river early in the longest Special Stage of the entire rally was avoided by Coma, but caught Despres and several others before race organisers changed the route to prevent more bikes - and the cars and trucks that would follow - getting stuck in the same mud hole.
In light of the route revision, the 10 minutes lost by Despres and the other early runners (including Coma) in the mud was later erased from their times, but it wasn't enough to prevent Coma taking the overall lead.
"There was a torrent of mud between the inspection of the reconnaissance car two days ago and today," Despres explained. "Therefore, it did not appear in the road book and I was the first to fall into the trap. There was no way I could have avoided it. I am awaiting the organisers' decision: after Ullevalseter, Goncalves and a few others had gone through, they took a detour, otherwise there would have been 200 vehicles trapped in the mud."
The revision to the times by the race directors deducted the time lost by Coma, Despres, Gonçalves, Rodrigues, Farres Guell, Ullevalseter and Casteu from their final times. This meant that Coma was still the stage winner, with a 7'00" gap over Portugal's Ruben Faria and 8'44" over Hélder Rodrigues.
Coma had his own problems, though. Suspecting engine problems with his KTM, the Spanish rider slowed toward the end of the stage. With the overall time adjustment, Coma now sits 1'26" ahead of Despres in the overall standings.
"I noticed I had engine problems towards the end, so I slowed down a bit to ensure I would make it to the finish. This is my 20th special victory: a nice figure. Yet it is not winning specials that counts, but winning the race," Coma said.
The overall standings were only marginally affected on Stage 8, with a minor shuffling of the order through the top ten. Behind Coma and Despres, Rodrigues (Yamha WRF 450) retains third overall, with Casteu (Yamaha WRF 450 Rally) moving into fourth ahead of Goncalves (Husqvarna Rally 450RR). Viladoms (KTM Rally Replica) is in sixth, followed by Farres Guell (KTM 450 Rally Replica), Svitko (KTM 450RR) and Pedrero Garcia (KTM 450CC Rally), while veteran Dakar campaigner Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM 450R) has moved into the final position in the top ten.
Of the remaining Aussies, Dean Nuttall (KTM 450 Replica) improved a couple of places to be in 38th overall, despite a time penalty of 56 minutes. David Schwarz (Husaberg FE 450) is in 52nd, with Jamie Chittick (Honda CRF 450X) in 70th. Another "Antipodean" worth noting is Chris Birch (KTM 450 Replica). The 31-year-old New Zealander, the sole Kiwi in the motorcycle class, spent time in South Africa training with Dakar legend Alfie Cox ahead of this year's rally. Birch has been consistently around the top 30 - 50 so far, and currently sits in 39th after Stage 8.
In the quads, Alejandro Patronelli (Yamaha Raptor 700), led the special at the first three checkpoints, only surrendering the lead in the last few kilometres, when his brother Marcos (Yamaha Raptor 700) surged ahead to win by 38 seconds. This new stellar performance by the two Argentineans was only threatened from afar by the inevitable Tomás Maffei (Yamaha 650 GRW), who lost 9'50" but defended his second place in the overall classification, where Marcos Patronelli inched closer to him and now stands 12'52" back.
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Images: dakar.com
