Dakar Blog - Day 8 & 9

Stage Report - Day 8 & 9 - 13th & 14th January 2020

Start location: Wadi Al-Dawasir
Finish location: N/A
Stage Length: N/A
Stage finish position: N/A
General Classification position: N/A

With no racing for the bikes on stage 8, Simon took some time to tell us a little more about his troubles the day before.

”After the rest day was stage 7, the longest special of the rally at 546km. The first 250km to the refuel were fast and flowing and I arrived in good shape. 47km later, while riding up a sand dune, my engine stopped with a horrifying crunch and at that moment I knew I was done. I tried to kickstart it but it was locked solid. The organisation phoned me through the bike’s Iritrak system and asked if I need evacuation. I told them to give me an hour to try to solve it. I started stripping off panels and fuel tanks to get a better view but there was no external damage, whatever had failed was internal and I had no way of fixing it. I thought about towing out but there was 250km of Saudi dunes between me and the finish line and there was no way I’d make it in time for that evening’s time cut-off. The organisation called again, I admitted defeat and they diverted a nearby helicopter to come and get me.”

“Once back at the bivouac I had a few teary phone conversations with people back home. A lot of amazing people had helped me get to this point and to have the whole thing let down because of a mechanical failure just felt unfair. The rest of that day was spent in a fairly somber mood, not just because of my DNF, but because one of my heroes, Paulo Gonçalves, had crashed and passed away on the same stage, about 20km earlier. I only learned this upon arrival at the bivouac. Stage 8 was rightfully cancelled out of respect.”

”The next day my bike arrived at the bivouac and the Drag’on Rally Team mechanics and I started to tear into it. Once the head was off the engine it was obvious, the conrod had snapped and taken out a load of parts with it, including the cases. It would need a new engine if I wanted to continue. I decided to go for it. Massive thanks to Mike, Quentin, Serge and Bruno for their help. In true Dakar style even top 20 rider Rod Faggotter took the time to help.”

“So here I am right now, day 9 of Dakar, I’m out of the race but the bike is fixed and I can re-enter tomorrow in the ‘Dakar Experience’ category. This is new for 2020, where competitors who go out for mechanical reasons can continue racing to gain experience for future editions. The biggest motivation for me is that my dad and girlfriend are flying out for stages 11 and 12. They’re coming out here to watch me race at Dakar and that’s exactly what they’re going to get to do.”

Thanks for reading, more from us tomorrow!

Team #SHdakar2020