Paris Dakar tonight on speed channel at 9 pm est

[Carlisle1972]

If your interested,IMO a 6500 mile race is long ?

[qadsan]

Thanks for the notice ?

[big t]

I'll check it out. Thanks

[600ish]

By Far the greatest race in the world. Watch for the KTM/Red Bull All-American team with Paul Krause, Larry Roeseler and Casey McCoy on a 950cc V-Twin doing 6500 miles in less than 3 weeks!

[jetdave]

Wow I count 46 Honda XR's in Dakar. I think if I was using that much energy to complete event I would want electric start. I bet the 650's are fun in the desert. ?

[irondude]

Its the 7th day, and there are 3 XR400's in front of the first Dakar BRP--in 52nd place!!!!!!

Whats up with that? ?

Harden is up to 13th place. Not bad for an overweight middle aged guy who hasnt raced a major race since Reagan was in office!!!!

Roesler must have had some problems- he's like 45 minutes off the leaders now -

What a race. What a freakin race. Dakar is the ultimate expression of mankind. Just incredible what those guys are doing--imagine it - today they are racing over 700 miles after a week of anxiety and cold and hundreds of miles already! Awesome. Other than polar exploration-or maybe big wall free climbing, ok--throw in solo around-the-world boat racing- other than that--it just doesnt get any more hard core. OK maybe hunting down Taliban on mules with the US Special Forces...hmmm, wouldnt that be cool. Maybe pay some adventure tour company $10,000 and ya get to go hunting in South Waziristan for Taliban....hmmm, ok way off topic here...only two more hours until the Dakar is on Speedvision!

Why is the fastest BRP in 52nd place?! What kind of steering dampner does he have?!

[qadsan]

Why is the fastest BRP in 52nd place?!

The first problem is all those XR650R's are being run on diesel #1. The second problem is they're all running 13/65 gearing and can only top out at 66 MPH. The third problem is that these are all Motard conversions with the wrong tires, etc. The list just goes on, but I think they're doing pretty well considering ?

I guess were all lucky there's not a XR100 ahead of all the XR650R's or we'd really be shamed

As always, a good rider on a slow bike is faster than a bad rider on a fast bike

[JRAMBO]

Hey you guys forgot about the YAMAHA 2-TRAC still has the fastest time. :D ?

[qadsan]

Hey you guys forgot about the YAMAHA 2-TRAC still has the fastest time

Great bike, but get that guy a compass

I've had my eye on the 2-Trac for a few years now and want one. If you want one, then email 2-Trac@Yamaha-Designcafe.com and tell them to put it into production so we can buy it on the showroom floor ?

[irondude]

Good coverage at ktm.at and ktmusa.com

Sounds like this last stage was hell. Lots of bikes riding thru the night crossing 80 miles of non-stop 75' sand dunes!

Can you imagine going up and down 300 sand dunes on a 400lb dirt bike at night after riding 300 miles? Insane.

Roesler got lost-Harden looks fat-but he's doin great!

[irondude]

Harden is in 6th place!

Caldecott is out.

They are all in the middle of a sandstorm right now....

[stonewall]

I would say Harden is doing ok for a backup rider. ? That 6th place finish puts him into 9th overall!! Krause is now 20th overall with LR sitting in 24th.

[sunnymex]

Why would they be running 13/65 gearing? That does not make much sense to me.

[qadsan]

Why would they be running 13/65 gearing? That does not make much sense to me.

Sunnymex, it was just a joke ?

[scorch]

If you cannot navigate well, and you have lousy luck you will not do well in the paris dakar. No matter what bike you are on.

[irondude]

They run 16-45 gearing. And that is no joke! If a BRP could pull that-they would be up there in the 120+ mph range...

I heard Scott Harden crashed hard and broke his leg ? - he was really doing well. It'll be interesting to see if Krause turns it up a bit. For sure Roesler will.

Paris Dakar is the greatest expression of mankind.

-Mike

[CYBORG]

My favorite part so far was on today, and it doesn't even involve a BRP!

A French driven car got stuck in some sand and when the helpful bystanders helped push, one of them accidentally hit the engine fire extinguisher button . Dry-chem wafting from under the hood and a dead engine !

Watching that smelly, cheese eating surrender monkey get out of the car to lift the hood while swearing in French made my day ?.