Garry chats with Welshman Craig Bounds following Stage 8.  Boundsey is riding well, despite a major off that fractured his sternum only weeks before the event.  Hardcore.

Annie Seel calls in mid way through what has to be the toughest rally of her life.  Bruised and battered, she continues on despite having shattered her helmet chinbar and breaking her nose.

Is the South American Dakar tough?  You better believe it.

We appear to be experiencing intermittent server issues.  Please bear with us if you are experiencing download issues.  Click the embedded player -- it'll load eventually.


Fear not, calls are still being captured.


Thanks,
Nate

Garry has a great chat with Thomas Berglund, riding his second Dakar with the Sweedish Army team. ARMY. Not bikini. But anyway -- Thomas fills us in on his race to date, including overshooting a corner and ending up several hundred meters off piste... Other than that, going quite well, and hoping for a finish inside the top 15.



Good luck, Thomas. Hope to hear from you again.

Garry chats with Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues, multi-stage winner in previous Dakar's, who voices perhaps the first leanings toward Africa that I've heard yet thusfar.


Great to hear from you, Helder.  Good luck on the rest of the Rally! (And what kind of fairing is that on your KTM?  Hmm?)

Garry gets Pal Anders on the phone after stage 8. The call is dropped, unfortunately, but it's an honor to hear from the Man in Green -- long, LONG, flying the flag for privateers on the Rallye circuit.


Good luck, Pal Anders! Hope to hear from you again, and hope you finally get that podium finish you've been working for.

Garry interviews David after the rest day. Steady as she goes for David, who finds himself transitioning from an "attack" mentality, to a "bring it home safely" approach.  Sounds pretty damn prudent given the attrition of late.

Don Hatton calls in after escaping from the hospital following his stage 4 crash and medivac. So good to hear from you, Don. You had us all worried there for a while.


Don, it's been a privilege to follow your maturation as a rallye rider. THANK YOU for allowing us to ride over your shoulder, across the world. We hope to hear more about your days before your crash, living the dream we all share.

Mend well. Mend completely. Dakar 2010.

Garry calls in from the streets of Valparaiso on the (so called) "rest" day. The service crews have had a busy day, including motor changes for both Jonah and David (who has put impressive mileage on the 690 including multiple rallies). Better safe than sorry. This does put an end to the marathon class, however.


A great look at what goes on in the service camp. Thanks, Garry!

For those of you who've seen Race to Dakar, listening to Simon Pavey chat with Garry will be like listening to an old friend regale you with tales at the local pub. I can see his easy going, ear-to-ear grin right now.


Thanks for talking with us, Simon. Hope to hear from you again! Enjoy the rest day.

Penalized 4 hours for missing a CP by 60m, Garry (our intrepid reporter) has managed to get the assessment reversed, preserving David's spot at the pointy end of the field.


Get up to speed with David's race to date.

Crewman for Dutchman Henk Knuiman, riding a 690 Enduro based bike, chats with Garry on how the rally is going for them up to this point. Browsing the lists, there are an amazing number of Dutchmen in the race.


Good luck, guys!  Enjoy the rest day.

Phil Noone from Ireland relates the tale of his incredible night last night. We knew he traveled to the bivouac to retrieve parts for the bike -- we didn't know that that journey was on HORSEBACK!!


With all due respect to our other callers, this may be the most incredible tale ever related on RallyRAIDio.



Incredible, Phil. 

Garry calls in from the bivouac after the weather-shortened stage 6. As good as Jonah's day was yesterday, David Schwarz had a tough one, missing a CP by 60m and incurring a very hefty penalty.



Thanks, Garry!

Garry heads off to bed, but not before speaking with Marc Coma.  Tomorrow will be a big day, with competitors encountering the first dunes of the rally.



WE should get to hear from Marc tomorrow, all things going as planned. In the meantime, Garry fills us in on some followup with Frans Verhoeven on the future of El Dakaro, and gives us a glimpse of what it's like over in the Elf Box camp, with the truly unsupported privateers.


There's some digital break-up in parts of the call (from wind noise, I believe), so bear with us.


Cheers, and G'night Garry!

Garry speaks with the lone Kiwi on the rally, privateer moto Michael Shepherd.  Great chat on what brought him to the rally, and what it's like to get passed flat out by the cars and trucks.



Thanks Mike, and good luck!

Garry chats with Italian quad rider Camelia Liparoti, who shares her perspectives on the rally with us in this great(!) call.


Here's the Dakar profile for Camelia:

She has been thinking about it for 12 years. Her uncle, a mechanic in her native Tuscany had her cleaning the spark plugs in her car. “I never got dirty”, she says laughingly. “I was fascinated by engine noise”.

It runs through Carmélia Liparoti’s veins. This petite lady’s passion is the quad; she seeks adventure and has dreamed about the Dakar for quite awhile.” I have covered the rally three times as a journalist”. These elements came into focus for the photographer. Camélia has had this challenge in the back of her mind since she decided to return but on the other side of the lens as a competitor. “I want to be the first woman to reach Dakar on a quad”.

Since discovering the rally she has prepared to take it on. In the three years she has amassed experience on raid adventures on every continent. Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Russia, Finland, Canada even Madagascar were all stops along the way. Colleague and past Dakar competitor, Francis Guérand is lending Carmélia a hand. He too ran a quad on the Dakar. He acted as a “Sherpa” over the entire rally distance.

The Italian lady lives in Chamonix, France and at home skiing is her first love. “Skiing… the lines and slopes are a great to learn more about riding a quad. It’s all about sliding which is also how you attack a valley of dunes.” Luc Alphand, her ‘Godfather, on the Dakar wouldn’t disagree.

Aussie Christophe Barriere Varju fills us in on his race to date, and what the dust is doing to man and machine alike.

Thanks Christophe, and hope to hear from you again soon!  Safe racing!




Christophe is running race number 205

Garry rings in with an awesome update of the rally from the perspective of a support team member (as well as EveryMan rallye nut).  Ever wonder what goes on when a rider pulls into the pit?  Listen in.  Garry's also got a great description of how the Rally is being received in SA.


Thanks, Garry!

Garry has Frans Verhoeven, former KTM factory (now Vectra teammate to Casteu) rider and winner of Stage 2, on the line.  Thanks, Frans, and continued good luck!

Aussie privateer David Schwarz calls from the Day 4 bivouac with a brief update.  A bit of nav trouble today, but still riding high in the overall order.  Keep it steady, David!

Garry Connell rings in from the bivouac with the report of his first day "on the Dakar".  Thanks for being our roving reporter, Garry!

Garry rings in from the Ceremonial Start podium, amidst a crowd that would do a MotoGP round proud.

Garry continues his call with a look around Parc Ferme at the assembled field, including some unlikely candidates.

Garry Connell rings in with a bit of introduction from Buenos Aires, and describes his first days in Rallye Fan heaven as they go through briefings and scrutineering.  Garry is riding with Rally PanAm and supporting Aussie David Schwarz, as well as serving as our intrepid reporter.


Thanks, Garry!