Skyler Howes won the first stage of his Dakar career today in a very fast, rocky special. This is Skyler’s eighth attempt at Dakar and it seemed like all the pieces finally came together in a way that allowed him to pull away from the field and set up his teammate Ricky Brabec for a good ride tomorrow.
Howes: “I’m happy. The stage was really fast and I just did a good job of navigating, pushed it to the end, so I consider that a perfect stage. I came away with the win which means a lot to give back to the team, they deserve stage wins, they deserve a lot and I’m happy to give that to them a little bit. Tomorrow, my job just means I’ve got to do a perfect job. All I’m looking forward to is opening the stage, doing the best I can and not make a single mistake and put Ricky into a good of position as possible. So I’ll just do my best, that’s all I can do.
Ricky Brabec started the day with the lead in the overall standings, but decided the best strategy was to back off and allow his rival Luciano Benavidez to gain back some time. That will allow Brabec to start sixth and follow Benavides tomorrow. “Today it was the fastest stage and they had said this at the briefing. Everyday has been fast this week, we were like, “how can they get any faster?” But today was full gas, we were to the stop for 85% of the day. I did the best I could to catch my teammate Adrien and then we rode together, well he navigated and I kind of sat in his dust to collect some bonus time. Stage 11 was good, it was fast, a little bit technical and tricky, but I managed to manage myself well and now I think we’re in a good position for stage 12.
The Rally2 division has heated up with Preston Campbell surrendering the lead to Toni Mulec. Campbell: “Tomorrow is going to be a big push to get the lead back. We don’t know how it will go but I’ll do my best, push my maximum, make up some lost time and hopefully get a good result. My first goal coming here was to just finish and as the race evolved, your goals change and you’re close to the win, so you want to win. I’ll just have a good couple of last days, if the win comes that’s great and make it to the finish.”
Mason Klein continues to finish just outside of the top 10 on his Hoto rally bike. Today he lost his rear brake in the liaison and had to ride the entire special without it. He now sits in 15th overall.
The penultimate day of this year’s Dakar will see riders cover 720 km as they make their return to Yanbu on Saudi Arabia’s western coast. After 13 gruelling days of racing across spectacular terrain, the final push begins as competitors edge ever closer to the podium.
STAGE 11
1. SKYLER HOWES 03h 09′ 02”
2. ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN + 00h 00′ 21”
3. EDGAR CANET + 00h 01′ 15”
4. LUCIANO BENAVIDES + 00h 03′ 37”
5. TOSHA SCHAREINA + 00h 04′ 06”
6. RICKY BRABEC + 00h 04′ 56”
7. MARTIM VENTURA + 00h 07′ 11”
8. BRADLEY COX + 00h 08′ 01”
9. ROSS BRANCH + 00h 09′ 00”
10. TONI MULEC + 00h 09′ 33”
11. MICHAEL DOCHERTY + 00h 09′ 38”
12. MASON KLEIN + 00h 10′ 13”
13. DANIEL SANDERS + 00h 10′ 28”
14. IGNACIO “NACHO” CORNEJO + 00h 13′ 52”
15. PRESTON CAMPBELL + 00h 15′ 23”
60. NATHAN RAFFERTY + 01h 23′ 37”
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. LUCIANO BENAVIDES 44h 48′ 48”
2. RICKY BRABEC + 00h 00′ 23”
3. TOSHA SCHAREINA + 00h 15′ 16”
4. DANIEL SANDERS + 00h 23′ 32”
5. SKYLER HOWES + 00h 34′ 20”
6. ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN + 00h 54′ 13”
7. IGNACIO “NACHO” CORNEJO + 01h 10′ 50”
8. ROSS BRANCH + 02h 25′ 56”
9. TONI MULEC + 02h 36′ 38”
10. PRESTON CAMPBELL + 02h 39′ 05”
11. BRADLEY COX + 04h 13′ 51”
12. MARTIM VENTURA + 04h 16′ 13”
13. KONRAD DABROWSKI + 04h 38′ 21”
14. NERIMANTAS JUCIUS + 04h 50′ 07”
15. MASON KLEIN + 04h 57′ 08”
