Finally racing to watch in '22 - Dakar!

Been an interesting start, with many of the top riders suffering from navigation issues. Stéphane's hopes to add to his win count dashed, in a 'You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel' incident. Well, suspension, anyway. Lots of American competitors to keep tabs on, in various classes.

https://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2...rts-olympic-channel-parker-kligerman-peacock/

https://www.dakar.com/en/

 

Petrucci resumed yay! Started stage 51, advanced to 23 I think.

 

Most of the comments on this year's are in the Petrucci thread. This guy is indeed for real! Would likely be leading overall, if his KTM didn't quit on him day 1.

Mason Klein has obviously put in the hard work to learn what it takes! Equally as impressive as Danillo, as a privateer rookie. Obviously learned to navigate exceptionally well, among other things.

All of the Americans are now riding more like I thought they would, after they made early navigation mistakes that took the wind out of their sails. Skyler is making great use of his new ride, for sure, while Ricky and Andrew have also gotten back to 'business as usual,' for them. Brabec had some major head issues after his costly navigation mistakes, and blamed his teammate, whom he'd followed blindly.

They are all still there, and a lot of kilometers left to race!

https://www.dakar.com/en/rankings

 

http://forums.13x.com/index.php?threads/petrucci.376167/

 

I wondered what was up with ricky, saw the videos after the first stage and for sure was blaming his teammate, wondered what was going on there.. sounds like quite a few were lost..

 

Ricky had a good stage 7, with Mason Klein putting in another incredible day finishing right behind R.B. for 6th. Andrew finished 16th, and unfortunately Skyler Howes crashed, and though finished the day, he's withdrawn from continuing due to injuries. Petrucci must have experienced some difficulties opening up the stage, as he finished 40th.

It was clear in the interviews watching 2 days worth of NBC coverage that sandbagging near the end of a stage is a major strategy on at least some days, to avoid having to be the first person to start the next day. Was referred to in several discussions.

 

Brabec, Short, and Klein all in the top 10 overall, after 11 stages. Klein continues to impress as a rookie, with almost 2 hours on his closest rival as top first-time Dakar rider.