| Team Dome BMW - Simon & Nick: 3rd Jan 2005 |
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Safety first on day four of the Dakar
Today's first African stage of the 2005 Telefonica Dakar Rally ended up
as a disappointing
procession for Team Dome BMW and all of the other motorcycle competitors as the 123 km
special that Simon Pavey and Nick Plumb had been looking forward to was
cancelled due to
safety reasons when heavy fog descended on the Rabat area in Morocco.
Although competitors had been blessed with beautiful sunny conditions for
the first few days of
the rally on Spanish soil, the freezing African fog made it impossible
for the medical helicopters
to take off in the early hours and, consequently, for the bikers to compete
in safety.
With visibility reduced to a minimum, all the motorcycle competitors were asked to proceed with
caution to CP 1 (some 63 kilometres away) before taking the tarmac road
all the way to their
destination in Agadir. This allowed Team Dome BMW's two F650 GS riders
to get to the rally
bivouac in safety and prepare mentally and physically for tomorrow's gruelling 381 km special
stage.
"Initially I was disappointed that today's special was cancelled due
to the poor conditions," said
Team Dome BMW's Simon Pavey. "However, as it turned out, it was good
to actually get this
stage out of the way without any aggravation. Despite still having to spend
10 hours in the saddle,
we're here safely, have already finished working on the bikes, and have
even had a hot meal and
a shower. That can't be bad, especially with a 5.30am start tomorrow morning!"
This was a view that was shared by his teammate, Nick Plumb, who will start
tomorrow's stage
from Agadir to Smara a quarter of an hour after Pavey. "I'm looking
forward to attacking
tomorrow's special stage, as it will be the first decent special we have
encountered. It's a typical
early Moroccan stage and we'll have to be on guard, as it will be bumpy
and full of hidden traps
for the unwary. It's the kind of stage where it would be easy to go out
of the rally with an injury
or machine damage, so we're just looking to stay out of trouble and enjoy the challenge of riding
in Africa again." |
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