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For your consideration, we bring you two sumo wrestlers rippin’ dank whoolies on motorcycles. Many thanks to our crazy friends at Bajaj, who think this is a great way of selling the Pulsar motorcycle to the traveling masses.
Honda Racing’s pairing of John McGuinness with Guy Martin is looking like a masterpiece right now. Not only are the two racers extremely fast around a road course, but they are also extremely entertaining to watch when off the track.
Sitting both McGuinness and Martin down for a chat about the upcoming season, Honda has put together a very entertaining video that shows the charismatic personalities of these two very different riders.
After some talk about favorite racing moments from the past, whether they fancy beer over tea, and other similar topics, things get down to brass tacks, with a baited conversation about who is the faster rider.
The interactions and exchanges between McGuinness and Martin are more than entertaining, so we think you will enjoy the long-ish video of them, after the jump.
When asked why he climbed Mt. Everest, George Mallory uttered the three most famous words in mountainering, “because it’s there.” Marc Marquez’s assent of the Kitzbühel ski slope might not be as profound, but in typical Red Bull style, it was certainly lurid.
Armed with a Honda RC213V race bike – shod in spiked tires made by ice speedway racer Franky Zorn’s crew (another Red Bull sponsored outfit) – Marquez climbed to the top of the Austrian peak, roosting ice shards and popping snow wheelies along the way.
The spectacle must surely have been an interesting one for the unassuming snow-goers of the area. Of course, we are just surprised to see Marquez go to such great lengths to avoid the lines at the ski lift; but then again, being the 2016 MotoGP World Champion has its privileges.
Road Racing’s biggest personality is returning to the paddock, as Guy Martin has signed up with the factory Honda Racing team. Martin will be alongside John McGuinness, and the pair will compete in the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT on the Honda CBR1000RR SP2.
The news is a welcomed announcement for those who missed Guy Martin’s presence in the road racing scene – the truck mechanic from Lincolnshire sat out the 2016 Isle of Man TT, and other racing events, choosing instead to take on some other projects, like a land speed record attempt at Bonneville.
That’s it. The 2017 Dakar Rally is finally over, with Stage 12 concluding today in the capitol city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. With a short 64km timed special, the results were unlikely to change much, barring some sort of unexpected catastrophe.
Anything can happen in the Dakar Rally, and in what was billed as the toughest edition of this iconic race, we bet there were still some nervous hands during today’s session.
Two stages of the 2017 Dakar Rally had already been cancelled, and we had already seen top riders withdraw from this competition, namely KTM’s Toby Price, who dropped out while leading the Dakar, and Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla, who withdrew while in second place.
As such, there was much delight when KTM’s Sam Sunderland not only finally finished his first full Dakar Rally, but did so by standing on the top step. Finally bucking his bad luck, Sunderland does so by also being the first British Dakar Rally winner, in any category.
The victory is also KTM’s 16th-straight Dakar Rally win, marking the occasion with an all-orange podium, as Matthias Walkner and Gerard Farres finished second and third behind Sunderland overall, respectively.
In fourth place is surely a frustrated Adrien van Beveren, the Yamaha rider finished just 48 seconds behind Farres, which is extra disappointing considering the one-minute penalty he received during Stage 11.
That is a tough break for the factory Yamaha team, though it shows that the Japanese manufacturer is a true contender now in the Dakar Rally.
The same can be said of Honda Racing, with the Monster Energy Honda Rally team showing tremendous potential as well, throughout the 2017 Dakar Rally.
If it had not been for a one-hour time penalty for a refueling mistake during Stage 4, Honda would have had two riders, Joan Barreda and Pablo Gonçalves, in winner’s contention. They finished fifth (+43 minutes) and sixth (+52 minutes) behind Sunderland, respectively.
We can expect Honda to be a strong contender in future editions of the Dakar Rally, and despite this year’s result, the racing through the rally raid showed that KTM’s dominance is no longer assured.
There are four manufacturers now capable of winning this iconic race, which bodes well for the future.
The penultimate stage of the 2017 Dakar Rally, Stage 11 was the last true opportunity for riders to make a run at the leaderboard, as Saturday’s stage involved only a 64km timed special.
With 286km of sand and dunes to navigate, it was once again the Honda riders that headed the pack. Leading from start to finish, Joan Barreda took his fourth stage victory (don’t let the Dakar video fool you with its lies), followed by his teammate Paulo Gonçalves, for another Honda one-two stage victory.
The result moved both Honda riders to well under their one-hour time penalty from early in the race, showing the strong pace and program that HRC has put together for the Dakar Rally.
Yamaha Racing too showed it promise, with Adrien van Beveren taking the third spot in the day’s honors. That result moves him, and Yamaha, closer to a podium in Buenos Aires (though not into third place yet, as the Dakar Rally video says).
Meanwhile at the top of the overall leaderboard, we saw the KTM riders doing a more conservative race, managing the half-hour gap to their would-be usurpers.
Sam Sunderland extended his lead by several minutes, finishing fourth for the day. With teammate Matthias Walkner finishing the day 10th, Sunderland extended his overall lead by several minutes.
Going into Buenos Aires, we don’t expect the overall order to change much. Though, we should warn, the Dakar is notorious for its sudden challenges.
John McGuinness is a pretty cool dude. You would know that if you spent some time with him. In case you haven’t though, here is you best chance, as British actor Andrew Shim is working on a project called “Inside the Passion” – the first episode of which covers McPint, in all his Average Joe glory.
The format is one part “day in the life” and another part “candid interview”…and there might be a couple fart and dick jokes in there as well. All in all, it shows McGuinness to be the down-to-earth fella most fans know him to be, and most racers aren’t.
At over 20 minutes long, there are also some fun cameos from riders like Lee Johnston and Conor Cummins.
Racing returns to the 2017 Dakar Rally, with Stage 10 taking the competitors from Chilecito to San Juan. The day had two timed special stages, with 449km of terrain to cover while under the stopwatch.
One of the last days to make time on the leaders, we saw some heroic rides from farther down the time sheet, while the top riders kept it conservative.
Of course, the big news of the day was the retirement of Pablo Quintanilla, who fainted during the stage, and gave up his #2 spot in the overall standings. This was a huge blow to Husqvarna’s Dakar hopes for 2017, as Pierre-Alexandre Renet is now the team’s top rider – 6th overall after today.
Fortunes were mixed for the Honda boys as well, as Joan Barreda took another stage win, and climbed to fifth overall. Barreda is now less than hour back from overall leader Sam Sunderland, which should be a topic of conversation after Honda’s one-hour time penalty for an illegal fueling.
The day would have been a one-two for Honda, but Michael Metge missed allegedly missed a waypoint, and was handed another one-hour time penalty for it.
Metge’s ride still was important for HRC though, as the French rider helped Barreda, after the Spaniard made a navigation error – like any good water-carrier does.
Stage 10 was billed as the most difficult stage of this year’s rally, and for Yamaha’s Adrien van Beveren it certainly was. Making mistakes on the course, Van Beveren finished 17th on the stage, which dropped him to 4th overall. He will need to make up over three minutes to get back into podium position.
For KTM, it was solid day of time management for Sam Sunderland, who finished in 12th, over 17 minutes behind Barreda. But, because his nearest rivals didn’t fare the day as well, Sunderland actually extended his overall lead by almost 10 minutes.
Sunderland now commands a 30-minute lead over teammate Matthias Walkner, and a 38-minute lead over fellow KTM rider Gerard Farres. For as much contention as there has been for the 2017 Dakar Rally leaderboard, it is looking very possible that we could see KTM sweep the podium when we get to Buenos Aires.
Tomorrow sees the Dakar Rally heading closer to the finish line, with 288km planned for the penultimate timed special. Riders will have to contend with their last set of sand dunes, which will come early in the stage, before hitting more “rally” styled roads.
This will likely be the last chance to see movement in the leaderboard, though never say never.
Stage 8 of the 2017 Dakar Rally continued to the marathon stage of the iconic race, where only racers can work on their machines, without the help of their mechanics.
Thus, Stage 8 tests the durability of one’s machinery, as well as one’s ability to ride conservatively -it is worth mentioning then that there are only 110 remaining motorcycle competitors remaining in The Dakar.
Don’t tell that to Honda’s Joan Barreda though, who once again blitzed the stage leaderboard. The Spaniard is surely unable to overcome his one-hour time penalty, but one has to wonder where Honda would be without it, as Bam Bam has impressed this edition of the Dakar Rally.
Stage 8 was originally planned to be 492km of two timed special stages, but flooding saw the course shortened by 72 km. With the day starting in Bolivia, the riders finished Stage 8 in Argentina, the final country of this Dakar Rally.
Despite Barreda’s result, KTM’s Sam Sunderland retains his overall lead, after finishing the day in third – just under four minutes back from Barreda. Matthias Walkner managed to squeeze his KTM between Barreda and Sunderland though, which moves him into fourth overall.
Wednesday’s Stage 9 was set to be a long day, with two timed specials totaling 406km. There have been some question marks though, as many of the team’s support crews have been stuck en route to the bivouac – roughly 200km away – because of landslides.
With the traveling circus quite spread out, there is some talk of safety concerns. As such, Stage 9 has been cancelled by the ASO.
This means that there are only really two more stages where the leaderboard can be affected, which is not a lot for the five riders who remain in reasonable contention. As such, expect to see some hard racing on Thursday and Friday.
After seeing Saturday’s stage cancelled, and with Sunday set on the schedule as a rest day, the 2017 Dakar Rally returned to racing-proper on Monday, with Stage 7.
Today’s special was originally conceived to be 322km long, but again the weather played a factor, and the timed section was cut down to just 160km. Sand dunes were the order of the day, which posed a challenge to some of the riders, both in navigation and time management.
For Honda, the day was very good, with American Ricky Brabec taking the day, followed closely his teammate Paulo Gonçalves. Sam Sunderland finished the day third, allowing him to maintain his overall lead in the standings. With three Hondas in the Top 5 though, the day truly goes to HRC.
Brabec’s win also continues the trend of a different rider winning each stage thus far of the 2017 Dakar Rally, an unusual circumstance in a race that usually sees a rider or two consistently rising above the rest of the field.
On that note, Xavier de Soultrait continues to impress on his Yamaha, fifth for the day, sixth overall, and still in the hunt for the overall win. Yamaha also can rely on Adrien van Beveren, who sits third overall, just behind Husqvarna’s Pablo Qunitanilla.
With three manufacturers in the Top 3, there will be a great deal of intrigue for the Dakar trophy, as we head into Argentina.
Monday night starts the marathon stage, meaning that only competitors can work on their machines in order to prep for Tuesday’s Stage 8. Without the help of their mechanics, we can expect some shake-up in Tuesday’s results from bike failures.
Weather has been pounding drought-stricken Bolivia recently, adding a further difficulty to the 2017 Dakar Rally. After seeing Stage 5 shortened because of the weather, Stage 6 was cancelled outright.
The ASO issued the following statement about the cancellation: “Considering the extreme climatic conditions and that some drivers are still on the stage course, considering that is impossible to bring the vehicles of all participants back to the bivouac and prepare the next stage in the best conditions, and considering that people of the organisation in charge of the reco of tomorrow’s stage course informed that the road is unpracticable, the 6th stage (ORURO-LA PAZ) has been cancelled.”
Stage 6 was supposed to be the longest day for Dakar competitors, with a planned 527km timed special section. That’s obviously no longer the case, with teams instead traveling by road via the liaison route – effectively giving Dakar racers the weekend off, with Sunday already scheduled to be a break from competition.