With only five days left in the
2010 competition, Montreal’s Patrick Trahan is looking good to be only the
fourth Canadian to complete a Dakar Rally. Riding with the Honda Europe team, Trahan
is 59th overall out of 93 riders still competing, just about half of
the starters.
About the 9th Stage,
Trahan said, “It was sand from the beginning to the end. I worked hard and
tried to ride as fast as possible. Twice I got stuck, but that wasn’t too bad
for a day like this. And there was something with the fuel today which cost me
five minutes in the last 50 kilometers … I feel very well, and I like this
competition."
Lawrence Hacking, the first
Canadian to complete the Dakar, told us on the rest day last Saturday that
making it to the rest day was most of the battle, and that he felt confident
Trahan was going to finish without difficulty.
On the overall leader board, Red
Bull KTM’s Marc Coma won his third stage of this year’s Dakar Rally and the 10th
of his Dakar career, beating fellow KTM man Cyril Despres by just four seconds
with Aprilia’s Francisco Lopez Contardo a further minute and 14 seconds behind.
Another consistent day for Despres
leaves him in a healthy overall lead over Norway’s Pal Anders Ullevalseter by
almost an hour and 22 minutes. Lopez Contardo is third overall some three
minutes behind Ullevalseter and some three minutes ahead of Yamaha’s Helder
Rodrigues.
Coma is mired in 17th
overall after being penalized a total of six hours and 22 minutes in this
year’s Dakar.
