Dakar 2006 - Stage 12

[klaus]

stage 12 - Thursday 12 January 2006 | Bamako > Labé (http://www.dakar.com/2006/DAK/LIVE/us/1200/parcours.html)
Connection 197 km
Special 368 km
Connection 307 km
Total 872 km
The river track

Mali is left in liaison. The course of this first Guinean special takes drivers and riders into highly varied configurations. Trial zones replace fast laterite tracks, and bikers will have to get their feet wet when passing through fords. From a vegetation point of view, you won’t quite need a machete knife! At the finish, as is required for a marathon stage, there will be no assistance vehicles.

http://www.dakar.com/PHOTOS/DAK/2006/1200/PARCOURS.gif


http://www.dakar.com/PHOTOS/DAK/2006/1200/FRANCE_ETAPE.jpg

[klaus]

On this day in 1982 Mark Thatcher got lost in the Paris-Dakar race....

Read more HERE (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/12/newsid_2523000/2523841.stm)

[KeithTurk]

I'd never seen that... thanks... quite a story...

Keith

[Alliturken]

Big trouble for Peterhansel today....wow. Good stage for Mark and VW. He may move up another place depending on Peterhansel's final time. Blais and Street had a great day too. Blais now 4th overall, and not too far away from the podium....amazing.

Vigouroux had another very quick stage in the Chevy truck. :)

[Alliturken]

Dakar.com, on Chris Blais performance:

But the day was very eventful when it came to the following positions of the leaderboard. Fourth before the start this morning, Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM – n°5) struggled and crossed the finish line losing 1h25’. The Norwegian drops down to sixth spot of the race, over 3 hours adrift. It was also a bad day for Carlo De Gavardo (KTM – n°4), suffering mechanical problems after crossing a river. Water in the engine of the Chilean’s KTM forced him to lose over 44min. De Gavardo keeps his fifth spot overall but sees Chris Blais pass him and move up to fourth position. The American who had claimed fourth place of yesterday’s special did even better today, finishing third, 2’29” adrift. Blais, 25-years-of age looks to be headed to an excellent fourth spot in Dakar after capturing 9th spot last year for his first Dakar. He could even do better: he is indeed 21’35” behind Giovanni Sala, third.

[Chase 2]

Peterhansel crashing today is really good news. Today being a marathon stage could make things even better for the VW team if complete repairs can’t be made to the Mitsubishi. If Stephane takes more than a total of 7hrs, 48min on today’s stage it moves Mark up another spot.

[01_el_tiburon]

seems like mark is in 4th now...

omar

[Alliturken]

Just a while more to wait until we know for sure if Mark stays in 4th or not. Peterhansel is still showing up on the tracker as stopped, so it's looking good.

Saw this report about Bailey's retirement from the race: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=208070&FS=CCR

[tractoR]

Peterhansel crashing today is really good news.

DAMN !!!

[Alliturken]

Peterhansel is rolling again toward the finish after getting assistance from the team truck. Now it's just a matter of his exact stage time, to see where he falls in the standings.

[Alliturken]

Peterhansel finishes, slots into 4th overall only 8 minutes in front of Mark. Grrrr.

[Chase 2]

Actually it could be good. I’m hoping VW just might let Mark put the hammer down tomorrow to get ahead of Stephane and get a stage win. Tomorrow Stephane will be starting back a ways and it could be hard to pass in places.

[texican]

I am an old man now but I raced back when a trick suspension on a class one was a transporter swingaxle setup with laydown gearboxes. I still keep up somewhat and i gotta tell ya, if I was Mark I would be so pissed off I could spit nails. Yesterday he could have easily made up lots of time but was held up, not just behind DeVilliers but Saby (who is 5 hrs behind Miller after stage 12). And today's stage 12 he was held up behind them again.

If it was me running that team I would have turned Miller loose, hoping to put extreme pressure on Mitsi as well as increasing the possibility of putting two VW's on the podium. Let Saby and Sainz be the sacrificial lambs and spare parts cars.

OK young uns, flame away at this old codger, I can take it!! I have been a lurker here for several weeks but just joined today.

[Offspring]

No argument here on what you said. 3 cars to get one as high as they can, especially with Mark as close as he is, just doesn't make sense to me. Let the other 2 cars support Mark and the first car. Maybe Mark can push himself as a "rabbit" to team bosses to push the Mitsu's to break or crash, and when he gets out front he can develope radio problems. LOL.

[Alliturken]

No argument here on what you said. 3 cars to get one as high as they can, especially with Mark as close as he is, just doesn't make sense to me. Let the other 2 cars support Mark and the first car. Maybe Mark can push himself as a "rabbit" to team bosses to push the Mitsu's to break or crash, and when he gets out front he can develope radio problems. LOL.

I agree totally. I cannot figure out Saby. I think he is just running his own little race, and Chris Nissen is letting him do it....just like last year. "Pleeeeeze oh pleeeeeeze let me get a stage win". Today and yesterday he was not in position to help either De Villiers or Mark, should something have gone wrong. He's up there thinking he is Carlos Sainz or something, and creating dust for Mark in the process. Today, looks like he may have gotten with the program only at the very end of the stage. Yesterday, he should have been with Jutta, at least for a while, to try something, anything. Last year he drove right past her when she broke too.

If by chance he was the one who pressured Peterhansel to crash, I take it all back. But I don't think that's what happened.

[Chase 2]

From looking at the check point times Mark had the French Pro-Truck in front of him for much of the day with Carlos being the car in front of them. Bruno was pretty much well ahead of al three of those guys. I'm speculating that Bruno had the "follow Geniel orders today".

[Alliturken]

Actually it could be good. I’m hoping VW just might let Mark put the hammer down tomorrow to get ahead of Stephane and get a stage win. Tomorrow Stephane will be starting back a ways and it could be hard to pass in places.

I hope so too. But De Villiers will still be their first priority tomorrow. He needs to get past Checherit starting in second, and pressure Alphand bigtime, maybe even a nice big nerf. De Villiers is better than Alphand on this type of narrow course. Mark really only needs to think about getting the 8 mins he needs to get ahead of Peter, rather than the stage win. But Roma will have orders to pressure Mark, too. He's starting just behind him.

Saby: He should immediately drop behind Mark and hold up Roma. But I bet he wont.

Peter is starting so far down tomorrow (60th?), it is going to be very very tough for him. Maybe Mark shouldn't push too hard, and hope that Peter loses the time on his own. Looks like passing could be tough tomorrow, that will hold him up bigtime.

It could be the single best stage yet, eh? :eek:

[Chase 2]

I’m wondering if the team strategies are as complex and well thought out as we would like to think they are. It is an element that we rarely see in off road racing.

[Alliturken]

You may be right, Chase. But if anything, in all European racing, I think you tend to see over-strategy rather than under, especially with any big-budget factory team with multiple cars, whose director's balls may be on the line. I'd like to think Nissen DOES have the nads to go hard for this win tomorrow and Saturday. He and De Villiers need to just make it happen....it's right there. If they play it right, and with a lot of luck, Mark could also end up on the podium. One big mistake from Alphand is all it will take. Test him. Make him earn it. See what he is really made of.

I'm getting excited for it already. :o

[Alliturken]

Just saw this quote from Miller. Looks like he is thinking about that 8 minutes tonight:

Mark Miller (USA - VW - 5th)
"I think it was one of the most difficult stage of the rally, with many traps. It was very risky course because of the holes, the dust and the trees. Today, it was easy to drive fast but easy as well to make mistakes. I startede behind Vigouroux and found him stuck in the mud. I pushed with my car to take him out. I damaged the right front side of the car. No consequence. We are now close to Peterhansel. There may be something to do."