The Monster Energy Honda HRC riders brave the cold and the wild on stage three
South AfricaAfter a night away from the rest of the team at the marathon camp, it was a cold start today for the riders. Temperatures had dropped significantly over night and some defrosting was needed before they packed up their tents and headed off on their Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes.
Today’s stage would be another long one, a very short 9 km road section would take them to the start of a gruelling 246 km against the clock, followed by a 263 km road section leading back to the bivouac at Sun City. The special stage headed north toward the Botswanan border, with terrain similar to yesterday’s through the savannah and remote villages. With the tracks leading through many gateways and the warning of termite nests along the way, it was imperative to not get on the wrong side of the fences today.
Ricky Brabec has delivered a steady performance throughout the rally and his fourth-place finish today was enough to move him back onto the overall podium. He had a strong start, flying through the early part of the stage and pushed hard in the closing kilometres. However, a small crash and time lost fixing an exhaust issue slowed his progress. Now just over eight minutes behind the leader, Brabec will be aiming to go on the offensive in the final two stages as he chases his first win of the season.
Adrien Van Beveren, still buzzing from getting up close with wildlife at the marathon camp, was in determined spirits once he’d thawed out. He maintained a solid pace and after refuelling, pushed for a strong finish. Unfortunately, a couple of navigational errors dropped him to fifth place, finishing 6”26’ behind stage winner Daniel Sanders. Despite the setback, he remains in podium contention and like Brabec, he’s not backing down without a fight.
Skyler Howes finished sixth, frustrated by navigation errors that cost him valuable time, as straying to the wrong side of the fences forced him to backtrack. Still, like his teammates, he was glad to return to the warmth of the Sun City bivouac to rest and recharge ahead of stage four.
Tomorrow’s penultimate stage from Sun City skirts the edge of Botswana, with the terrain shifting from open grasslands to bush-covered dirt tracks and rocky mountain passes. A punishing 470 km liaison with a 224 km special stage promises to test the riders both physically and mentally.
It was not what we expected today as the riders had a couple of problems, whether it was getting a bit lost, or they didn’t have the pace for the stage. Adrien was also a bit unwell today. Skyler finished sixth, which wasn’t too bad as day by day, he has more confidence on this type of terrain which is not what he’s used to back home. He lost a little bit of time around 70 km from the end as he took a wrong turn. Early on in the day, Ricky hit a stone and broke his exhaust so he had to stop a few times during the stage to fix it. He also got lost in the same place as Skyler, which lost him some precious minutes as he eventually finished fourth. Adrien also got lost in the same area and it happened to the other riders too, so there was obviously a lack of information on that note in the road book. We expected a better result today as I thought the riders would recover some time, however, we will focus on tomorrow and try to do our best on the final two days.
It was not what we expected today as the riders had a couple of problems, whether it was getting a bit lost, or they didn’t have the pace for the stage. Adrien was also a bit unwell today. Skyler finished sixth, which wasn’t too bad as day by day, he has more confidence on this type of terrain which is not what he’s used to back home. He lost a little bit of time around 70 km from the end as he took a wrong turn. Early on in the day, Ricky hit a stone and broke his exhaust so he had to stop a few times during the stage to fix it. He also got lost in the same place as Skyler, which lost him some precious minutes as he eventually finished fourth. Adrien also got lost in the same area and it happened to the other riders too, so there was obviously a lack of information on that note in the road book. We expected a better result today as I thought the riders would recover some time, however, we will focus on tomorrow and try to do our best on the final two days.
I’m happy to be back, it’s a bit warmer here than on the marathon night and so I’m looking forward to some good sleep. The special wasn’t too long at 260 km but the liaison afterwards was pretty brutal. The first half of the special I rode really well and then I saw that I wasn’t making up the time that I wanted to, so I just tried to push the last 60 km but got ahead of myself and made a couple of mistakes. I crashed once and then had an exhaust issue which I needed to pull over and fix. There are two more days left, I’m down a couple of minutes but it’s not over yet.
I’m happy to be back, it’s a bit warmer here than on the marathon night and so I’m looking forward to some good sleep. The special wasn’t too long at 260 km but the liaison afterwards was pretty brutal. The first half of the special I rode really well and then I saw that I wasn’t making up the time that I wanted to, so I just tried to push the last 60 km but got ahead of myself and made a couple of mistakes. I crashed once and then had an exhaust issue which I needed to pull over and fix. There are two more days left, I’m down a couple of minutes but it’s not over yet.
I’m happy to be back at Sun City, it was really cold up there at the lion camp that we were staying at. This is turning out to be a proper rally, the navigation has been really tricky and that’s one thing that can definitely make or break it. I haven’t done a perfect job so far, a few mistakes today navigation wise. At the end of the day I’m feeling really good on the bike, very happy with my setting, we’ve made a really good direction there, so I’m looking forward to making some improvements with the navigation and finishing these last two days on a strong note.
I’m happy to be back at Sun City, it was really cold up there at the lion camp that we were staying at. This is turning out to be a proper rally, the navigation has been really tricky and that’s one thing that can definitely make or break it. I haven’t done a perfect job so far, a few mistakes today navigation wise. At the end of the day I’m feeling really good on the bike, very happy with my setting, we’ve made a really good direction there, so I’m looking forward to making some improvements with the navigation and finishing these last two days on a strong note.
We had a special experience last night close to the animals at the marathon camp. We slept in the tent and it was really cold, but luckily I could managed to keep warm during the night in my sleeping bag. I really tried to push today, to ride well and at the refuelling I saw I was losing time, so I pushed through the last part, maybe too much and did two navigation mistakes which lost me some time. It’s the same for everybody, this is part of rally racing, but gave our best and still in the fight.
We had a special experience last night close to the animals at the marathon camp. We slept in the tent and it was really cold, but luckily I could managed to keep warm during the night in my sleeping bag. I really tried to push today, to ride well and at the refuelling I saw I was losing time, so I pushed through the last part, maybe too much and did two navigation mistakes which lost me some time. It’s the same for everybody, this is part of rally racing, but gave our best and still in the fight.
Rally GP Result - Stage 3
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SANDERS Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | 3:06:46 | |
2 | BENAVIDES Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 1:37 |
3 | EVAN BRANCH Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 2:39 |
4 | BRABEC Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 5:14 |
5 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 6:26 |
6 | HOWES Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 8:01 |
7 | COX Bradley | 49 | RSA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | + 13:12 |
8 | CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 13:52 |
Rally GP Provisional Standings After Stage 3
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SANDERS Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | 9:41:32 | |
2 | BENAVIDES Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 2:48 |
3 | BRABEC Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 8:19 |
4 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 9:24 |
5 | HOWES Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 29:32 |
6 | CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 32:12 |
7 | COX Bradley | 49 | RSA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | + 51:29 |
8 | EVAN BRANCH Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 1:35:32 |
