C'mon guys, Robby is OK,
WHY THE CHAT IS CLOSED?
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There is no way they will make an exception and let him continue. If anything they might be mad that he started the stage as they will have to monitor him as they most likely wont leave him out there is he needs assistance. The first year Ron Bailey attempted the Dakar he DQ'ed a stage and was out of the race. He chose to continue to follow the Dakar. He did not run all the race stages, but the ASO was not happy with some of his choices. If I remember right he even rolled it on the highway following the race! What a mess he was!
Also think of it this way. Last year when the Chilean team running the third Hummer "Chilean sponsored" broke the gear box and timed out. They did not give them a free pass. If anyone was going to get a free pass you would have thought the home town hero's would have. Nope! ASO DQ'ed them like everyone else in the past. Rules are Rules and no matter how popular RG might be they are not going to look the other way and let him continue.
I'm sure what RG is trying to do is finish today's stage and try to appeal the DQ and see if for some reason he can continue. But unless the scoring and timing was off, the ASO will not overturn a DQ. But hey it worth a shot. The Dakar cost a lot of money and RG and his sponsors expect him to do what what ever he can to win or finish, and he is.
Per RDC http://www.race-dezert.com/home/robby-gordon-dakar-2-13958.html
RDC has a few people over their following the USA racers.
Robby Gordon is all but out of the 2011 Dakar Rally after a wheel bearing failure on the liaison to stage four today. Race Dezert caught Gordon on the side of the road, some 400 kilometres into a 500 kilometre liaison.
The distinct orange Hummer was unmistakable amongst the yellow and red dirt of the high altitude mountain pass.
The dejected Gordon sat by the roadside, his Hummer on jacks, “Unbelievable huh? I don’t know how you prepare for 11 months and then you end up like this it’s unbelievable,” he said.
“I would say the biggest thing was me driving off the road on day two, that put us behind, but the wheel bearing, we’d never have checked it for the whole rally, probably changed the hubs at half way and that’s about it.”
Gordon says the wheel bearing failure is entirely inexplicable. “Normally, a wheel bearing if it’s going to give way gives way right away, but this one here we’re what? 1,500, 2,000 miles of racing? I don’t what’s going on there.”Ouch, to watch them drive by........ How frustrating.
No Radios?
No Sat phones?
No reception?
No communication between cars or crew?
Twitter?
REALLY?
I was just depressed and down before, but after reading that the T4 just rolled past them, now I'm spitting nails mad.
So since Robby would most likely stay down their till the end of the rally anyway, the "link stages" between the timed sections aren't official race stages are they, they're like open to the public roads (unless I'm thinking of another rally race) so he could in theory follow along completely with the rally except for the Timed Special stages & do promotion along the way trying to gain as much media attention as possible. Also it would be possible (and maybe a smart marketing move) to maybe try and work something out with GM's South American branch that Robby would take the Hummer to some of the various dealerships along the way and put on some exhibitions with donuts and stuff.
I mean the cost may not justify the expense and it might tick off the ACO but there is really nothing they could do to stop him from doing something like that is there?
Following a broken wheel bearing after 514 km of the link stage leading to the 4th special, American Robby Gordon (Hummer) was not able to reach the day’s timed section, since the race officials had already closed the start point by the time his assistance team reached him. As a result, the Californian has been forced to abandon the rally.
I know money is tight, but having the race support truck could of saved them here. Filled with parts and 3 more wrench hands could of made the difference of racing or going home.
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