Dakar: Kevin Benavides wins, Toby Price remains the narrow leader
The penultimate ride was one full of plot twists. It promised to be a showdown, but delivered a dramatic twist. Matthias Walkner crashes, his teammate Kevin Benavides stops to help and goes on to win the stage and almost take the lead of the rally. As a result, he deprives private driver Michael Docherty of his first victory. Moreover, Luciano Benavides, Kevin's brother, thought he had won, but then received a speeding fine.
Walkner is taken away by helicopter and Kevin Benavides gets back the lost time by providing assistance to his teammate. It meant that Benavides regained 23 minutes of time and thus robbed Docherty of his first victory in the Dakar. Toby Price had started well and was constantly at the front of stage 13. Skyler Howes had a bad day. A navigation error cost him some time.
Mason Klein did not start again in the thirteenth stage. The American rider had been suffering from physical discomfort for some time after two crashes in the ninth stage. Jérôme Martiny finished 29th today, his best score so far in this Dakar. Mirjam Pol came 36th, her compatriot Wesley Aaldering scored 48th today.
Kevin Benavides wins the stage in a strange way and ends up second in the rankings, just 12 seconds behind leader Toby Price. The two are teammates at Red Bull KTM. Skyler Howes follows at 1:31 min.
Tomorrow there is a high speed stage along the coastline with Kevin Benavides serving as the carrot for the two hares Price and Howes. Will agreements be made within the KTM group and will there be a truce tomorrow in the top three of the rankings? In any case, the three will fight for the overall victory in the stage between Al-Hofuf and Dammam.
This Dakar is unpredictable because of all the rules regarding speeding fines, lost time that is returned and the like. So the outcome tomorrow will be very exciting. Will KTM finally regain the overall victory with Toby Price or Kevin Benavides after being trumped by HRC Honda and GasGas over the past three years? Or will it be a first victory for Husqvarna with Skyler Howes?
Result stage 13
1 | 047 – K. BENAVIDES (ARG) | 06:42:00 | 2h21m47s | |||
2 | 111 – M. DOCHERTY (ZAF) | 07:07:00 | + 00: 00: 27 | |||
3 | 077 – L. BENAVIDES (ARG) | 07:01:00 | + 00: 00: 57 | |||
4 | 042 – A. VAN BEVEREN (FRA) | 06:54:00 | + 00: 02: 05 | |||
5 | 008 – T.PRICE (AUS) | 06:36:00 | + 00: 02: 28-01.42 | |||
6 | 017 – R. DUMONTIER (FRA) | 07:05:00 | + 00: 02: 32 | |||
7 | 010 – S. HOWES (USA) | 06:45:00 | + 00: 03: 31 | |||
8 | 007 – P. QUINTANILLA (CHL) | 06:48:00 | + 00: 03: 33 | |||
9 | 068 – T. SCHAREINA (ESP) | 06:59:00 | + 00: 04: 06 | |||
10 | 016 – R. BRANCH (BWA) | 06:57:00 | + 00: 04: 51 | |||
11 | 018 – D. SANDERS (AUS) | 06:33:00 | + 00: 04: 59-02.13 | |||
12 | 014 – S. BÜHLER (DEU) | 06:51:00 | + 00: 05: 07 | |||
13 | 033 – F. CAIMI (ARG) | 07:03:00 | + 00: 07: 39 | |||
14 | 011 – J. CORNEJO FLORIMO (CHL) | 06:30:00 | + 00: 07: 42-02.33 | |||
15 | 096 – J. ARGUBRIGHT (USA) | 07:20:00 | + 00: 08: 19 |
Interim score
1 | 8 |
(AUS) TOBY PRICE
|
RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | 43H 11 ′ 51 " | 00H 01 ′ 00 " | ||
2 | 47 |
(ARG) KEVIN BENAVIDES
|
RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | 43H 12 ′ 03 " | + 00H 00 ′ 12 " | 00H 03 ′ 00 " | |
3 | 10 |
(United States) SKYLER HOWES
|
HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING | 43H 13 ′ 22 " | + 00H 01 ′ 31 " | 00H 01 ′ 00 " | |
4 | 42 |
(FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN
|
MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM | 43H 27 ′ 42 " | + 00H 15 ′ 51 " | ||
5 | 7 |
(CHL) PABLO QUINTANILLA
|
MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM | 43H 27 ′ 50 " | + 00H 15 ′ 59 " | 00H 02 ′ 00 " | |
6 | 77 |
(ARG) LUCIANO BENAVIDES
|
HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING | 43H 30 ′ 20 " | + 00H 18 ′ 29 " | 00H 01 ′ 00 " | |
7 | 18 |
(AUS) DANIEL SANDERS
|
RED BULL GASGAS FACTORY RACING | 43H 34 ′ 25 " | + 00H 22 ′ 34 " | 00H 04 ′ 00 " | |
8 | 11 |
(CHL) JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO
|
MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM | 43H 40 ′ 19 " | + 00H 28 ′ 28 " | ||
9 | 15 |
(ESP) LORENZO SANTOLINO
|
SHERCO FACTORY | 44H 22 ′ 19 " | + 01H 10 ′ 28 " | 00H 15 ′ 00 " | |
10 | 33 |
(ARG) FRANCO CAIMI
|
HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY | 44H 42 ′ 03 " | + 01H 30 ′ 12 " | 00H 01 ′ 00 " | |
11 | 12 |
(JUN) MARTIN MICHEK
|
ORION – MOTO RACING GROUP | 44H 47 ′ 00 " | + 01H 35 ′ 09 " | ||
12 | 142 |
(SVK) STEFAN SVITKO
|
SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM | 44H 56 ′ 12 " | + 01H 44 ′ 21 " | ||
13 | 68 |
(ESP) TOSHA SCHAREINA
|
BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM | 45H 01 ′ 02 " | + 01H 49 ′ 11 " | 00H 15 ′ 00 " | |
14 | 17 |
(FRA) ROMAIN DUMONTIER
|
TEAM DUMONTIER RACING | 45H 08 ′ 23 " | + 01H 56 ′ 32 " | 00H 16 ′ 00 " | |
15 | 46 |
(ITA) PAUL LUCCI
|
BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM | 45H 38 ′ 29 " | + 02H 26 ′ 38 " |
Photos: Dakar. com
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