Although it’s a bit off of the beaten path, eh? And I haven’t purused the All knowing google-MONSTER, nor Wicked-pedia, thus I’m not sure if its occurred before, but I’d haveda guess its pretty rare to have two American’s claim Back-to back Stage victories in the torturous DAKAR Rally; as Robby Gordon won Stage 4 in his Monster Hummer (his third career Dakar Stage victory), while Mark Miller scored his maiden Stage victory the following day during the grueling Stage 5 aboard his VW Touareg, while fellow teammate ‘el Matador, a.k.a. Carlos Sainz took point and now leads Overall in the Car category as of Stage 5.
And it was two days of Agony ‘N Ecstasy (cue the Wide World of Sports intro theme music here…) for de Motorcycles Italia, as sadly one Italian competitor was airlifted to a nearby Hospital with critical Head injuries after crashing during Stage 6 and has been placed into an induced coma… While on Stage 5, it was debutant Aprillia’s turn to claim glory, as the brand new ‘lil Thumper, a.k.a. 450cc V-Twin, claimed the day’s Stage victory, scoring Aprillia’s maiden victory in the DAKAR.
As interestingly, whomever this Toby Moody chap is, claimed how he normally follows the bikes on the MOTO GP trail, which Aprillia is synonymous with winning in the 125cc & 250cc classes and now is tackling the oppressive Desert landscape… So, will el Matador retain his lead today? Tune-in this afternoon…
