Page 115 - Australian Motorcycle News (January 2020)

JAUME BETRIU WAS THE BROTHERLY LOVE

“It’s very nice to ride the Dakar
7HIGHEST-PLACED ROOKIE KTM’s Luciano Benavides said
with my brother,” Red Bull

NO LESS THAN 38 riders lined up for their first-ever after the sixth stage riding
alongside factory Honda-
Dakar Rally, including former British and Junior World mounted older brother Kevin.

Enduro champ Jamie McCanney (Yamaha), Czech “Today is the first stage where
five-time domestic motocross champ Martin Michek we’ve really ridden together
(KTM) and seven-time Indian Motocross Champion and it’s very special.”
The Honda rider’s fourth
Harith Noah Koitha Veettil (Sherco). In the end, it stage ended in tears, literally,
was Spain’s Jaume Betriu – and, incidentally, 10-time just 45km shy of the finish

Dakar finisher Laia Sanz’s boyfriend – who claimed line when his engine cried no
the coveted Rookie of the Year title from McCanney. more. He ended up getting
Michek was on equal pegging with the Spanish a tow to the finish line by a

rider during the majority of the rally, but finished fellow competitor and lost
over an hour behind McCanney on the penultimate 3h37m to teammate Brabec.
stage, putting paid to any rookie honours. Betriu He started the last day of the
and McCanney were separated by 10m26s after the opening week in third place
completion of the 12th and final stage. overall and 11 minutes down,
and ended it in 28th position,
4h04m04s in arrears.

UP AND COMERS

Honda’s Jose Ignacio Cornejo

claimed his first-ever stage
victory on the fourth. The win
proved why Honda chose the
AUSSIE BEN Goncalves for 2020. This year
26-year-old Chilean rider to
replace the outgoing Paulo
YOUNG SURVIVED was his fourth Dakar Rally and
now with three top-10 Dakar

finishes to his name, he is
8A BIG OFF setting himself up to be a future
star of cross-country rally.
Botswana man Ross Branch
also claimed his maiden stage
AFTER PRICE AND Faggotter, Ben Young was the win on the second.

next-best placed Aussie, finishing 58th in what was
his second consecutive Dakar Rally. After fracturing

his hand on the fifth stage last year and riding through SCRATCHED AND

the pain to finish 51st, the self-funded KTM rider came
back for more in 2020, despite vowing 12 months ago he SHORTENED
wouldn’t. The Melbourne man was lucky to walk away
from a fast crash on stage nine but rode a consistent Stage 8 was cancelled in
race right to the end. memory of Goncalves, and

His best stage finish came after the rest day when he stage 10 was cut short. By

finished the day in 55th. then, only two-thirds of the 158
motorcycle entries remained
with 105 riders roaring away
from the bivouac to start the
10th stage, which traversed a
desert larger than France aptly
known as the ‘Empty Quarter’.
But organisers called time at
the 345km mark due to strong
BEN YOUNG WAS winds, handing Joan Barreda
his first stage win this year.

LUCKY TO WALK AWAY “We had fewer helicopters
and a lot of wind, so we
FROM A FAST CRASH couldn’t guarantee optimum
safety conditions,” race
ON STAGE NINE director David Castera. “And
we don’t take risks.”

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