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Prologue starts in a few hours, keen to see how Mason Klein goes on the Kove, but backing Toby for the win!
DAKAR 2024
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Hope to see Ricky and Skyler on the podium.
Did his bike show up?
https://enduro21.com/en/racing/latest/rally/mason-klein-out-of-dakar-20…
Says his team pulled an all nighter in a sprinter van and made scrutineering
The entire HRC or…if your a Baja-junky…the whole “JCR Squad”…Nacho…all of them…here’s hoping they all have a great Dakar.
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Top 10 within a minute after prologue
And lets hope everyone stays safe and get through the race.
This.
I'm pulling for Ricky or Skyler but if they can't get it I'd like to see AVB get a win I think. Dude has been at it a long time and never quite got it done.
Rough prologue for Skyler. But nothing he can't overcome.
Not good….
Go Chucky!!
Nice to see Ross Branch up front...but it's still early days..
Well, this sucks.
Dang....I guess this would be the year given all the bad luck Skyler has had already. Awesome to see Brabec up front!
That would be a kick in the guts.....It's a harsh event.
Cmon Ricky please win!
Stage 6 is a 48 hour stage and is now 1/2 done with Thursday's racing completed.
"Ricky Brabec who is now the virtual leader of the general rankings with an advantage of 2’48’’ over Ross Branch"
https://www.dakar.com/en/news/2024/dakar-2024-stage-6a-pole-position-for-carlos-sainz-and-van-beveren/187659
Ricky has been nearly perfect so far. Absolutely amazing, I hope he can keep it up.
Three stages left and Ricky's looking good.
Pit Row
One of the riders died.
https://www.motorsport.com/dakar/news/spanish-rider-falcon-dies-after-d…
The Honda boys with a great result in Stage 9. Three more stages to the finish!
One of the guys in the sustainability class had a massive off after his frame broke 😳
https://www.facebook.com/reel/279892654785066?fs=e&mibextid=UalRPS
Ricky got 2nd in todays Stage 11. He now leads by 10:22 going into the short final stage tomorrow. Looks set to take another overall win.
Those new 2024 Honda Rally 450 bikes have been amazing this year. 3 Hondas in the top 4, and no austrian brand on the podium. Heck of a showing for Hero too with Branch. I've never heard much about them.
Hero is a dominant motorcycle OEM in India - https://www.heromotocorp.com/en-in.html
Tiger Woods, does or used to sponsor a golf tournament with them in the Bahamas, the Hero World Challenge. Which was a way to promote the brand in the US.
fk yea go Honda - really showed up the austrians this year. However, its not over till its over Ricky has to bring it home in the final stage. I hear Cornejo had a fuel pump issue today
Honda have been having a brand revival in general over the last few years, they are looking good all around.
what kind of engine is the honda running is it based of the crf450r or is it full dakar custom ?
It is certainly based off the production model but different in a lot of ways. Im pretty sure the only rule as far as engines go is they have to be 450cc. They certainly are tuned and built to a lower overall HP I think or at least make the power lower you can hear them they sound way different than the MX bikes.
In 2022 they changed to allow one piston change per race without penalty but I'm still not sure they are doing it preventatively. They do roughly 40 hours of riding over 3500ish miles in 14 days and its not uncommon for these guys to be pinned on the rev limiter for 15 minutes, bikes are limited to 100mph.
Their exhaust is straight through to a large opening at the rear, more similar to a flat track pipe than an mx exhaust. The air filters also have much more surface area, thats where the sound difference come from. The engines also hold approx 4lt of oil which is the biggest difference to the stock engine. Prior to the speed restriction to 100mph a few years ago (which is bullshit) they were getting close to 120mph, which you would not likely get out of a stock 450 with taller gearing, I have tried many times. They can't be detuned too much.
I’m no expert on Dakar but I do know Honda are extremely secretive about their rally bike and limit photos and exposure. What I have picked up from comments and interviews is they run a one off rally specific 450 engine that has duel overhead cams that shares little if anything with the mx version.
The HRC CRF450 Rally is a purpose-built race machine. It's not based on any CRF production model. Although, some of the details will end-up in production CRFs eventually.
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