Jan 6th Dakar Rally Stage 4 Race Chat.

Join us for the Dakar Rally's fourth day on Jan 6, 2009 , right here and chat about the action during the 4th stage.Robby sits in 9th overall,only 34 minutes from the lead.

Stage 4 - Tuesday, January 6
Jacobacci > Neuquen
Connection: 4 km | Special: 459 km | Connection: 25 km | Total: 488 km
At the start of this stage, the rocky passageways will make heavy demands on the arms of motorcyclists, while those who are accustomed to “wadis” will be obliged to negotiate the Argentinian “rios” with the same careful attention. Next, the first sandy portions and the long kilometers of off-road will thrill those who love driving them. Careful now! Mistakes can begin to be costly: the stage toward Neuquen has all the ingredients of a trap. By taking on more or less of a lead, the favorites can begin to show themselves and provide indications of a ranking that just might last.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by FlyHiFlyLo on January 6, 2009 at 3:23pm

Viger finished 62nd almost 2 hours back and now sits 69th 8hrs back.

Permalink Reply by Pope on January 6, 2009 at 6:01pm

I know it's early in this race but if you list to the audio posted today you can tell RG is scratching his head about how fast the competition is. To stand any kind of chance he needs to have some competitors fuck up which will probably happen like fly says. The problem is RG is bound to have a couple of mishaps as well. I would say that the chances for RG to win this rally are less than 1% at this point.

Permalink Reply by All-American Girl 2 on January 6, 2009 at 6:45pm

Not sure if this is posted or not yet:

Press Release:

Team Dakar USA Stage 4 Update: Jacobacci to Neuguen

Neuguen, Argentina (January 6, 2009) – Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally was completed today, placing physical demand on the competitors and the race vehicles. At the beginning of the 459-km stage, the race course was very rocky, followed by a lengthy sandy section. The section towards Neuguen was the most difficult as the terrain changed several times before the conclusion of the stage, allowing the competitors to show their skills as they headed towards the finish line. Please reference the below profile for more details of the terrain changes.

Robby Gordon and the No. 309 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Hummer started today’s special from the tenth position. When Gordon and his navigator, Andy Grider passed the first checkpoint, they were in fourth place, making their way to the front of the field. Everything was going according to plan until kilometer 379. One of the A.S.O. safety requirements is that each vehicle be equipped with a Sentinel, which is basically a loud buzzer and light that lets competitors know that you want to pass. Gordon was attempting to pass a slower car, so he buzzed the Sentinel a couple of times. As he was attempting to pass, the other driver turned left while Gordon continued straight, ultimately colliding with a ditch and causing the Monster Energy Hummer to roll. After accessing the damage, Gordon and Grider quickly got back in the race vehicle and continued towards the finish line. They were able to salvage a tenth place in today’s special, finishing just 12:13 minutes behind the leader, Carlos Sainz. The American duo is currently ninth overall, just 46:45 minutes behind the leader.

“I am disappointed that we rolled the Monster Energy Toyo Tires Hummer today. Luckily, the damage is minimal and can be repaired this evening before tomorrow’s special. Once it happened, Andy and I jumped out to assess the damage. When we saw that all four tires were still on the Hummer, we quickly buckled back in and continued towards the finish,” stated Gordon. “It looks like we only need to replace the air filter housing, the right side door and the windshield along with a few suspension parts. While making these repairs, the team will carefully go over every inch of the car to ensure that there are no broken parts or hidden damage. We should be ready to ‘roll’ tomorrow,” commented Gordon on the events surrounding stage 4.

The No. 324 Vanguard Hummer ended the special in 62nd place. “We lost a power steering pump bracket yesterday, which is a part that has never failed Team Dakar USA before. Alex and I were able to repair the part, but we lost a significant amount of time doing so. We stayed positive and finished the special. Since we didn’t have a good finish yesterday, we had to start farther back today. Our strategy was just to be cautious today and do what we needed to do to make it to the final stage,” stated Eric Vigouroux, driver of the No. 324 Vanguard Hummer.

The Dakar Rally will travel from Neuguen to San Rafael tomorrow for stage 5. Stay tuned to robbygordon.com for more Dakar highlights.

The day's route

Distance

BIKE

CAR

liaison

4 km

Start

-

-
Arrival

-

-

special

459 km

Start

06:20

08:08
Arrival

11:25

12:38

liaison

25 km

Start

11:25

12:38
Arrival

12:55

14:08

Times given in G.M.T. -3

Profile

See the legend at http://www.dakar.com/2009/DAK/LIVE/us/300/r7_5-parcours.html for more details

Profil d’altitude

Profil de la spéciale

Map

Permalink Reply by FlyHiFlyLo on January 6, 2009 at 6:56pm

I think RG had his bad luck today and he came out pretty much smelling like a rose for once. I wonder who he was following that trapped him.

Permalink Reply by IndyTim on January 6, 2009 at 7:03pm

Is it kosher to put somebody "in the wall" at Dakar? At least throw a 90 weight ball bearing at them next time........

Permalink Reply by Mike/WC77 on January 6, 2009 at 7:24pm

So Robby got dumped in an off-road race... Somewhere Jamie Mcmurray is laughing his ass off. I also have to wonder if it was the guy RG "Baja passed"(bump,n' run) at the last African dakar.

Permalink Reply by zoomsss on January 6, 2009 at 8:27pm

That's what Robby meant by saying he 'buzzed' the guy a couple of times.

Chicheirt was who is was. There's an audio file on the site's main page,
Thread of it's own