Polish rider dies on Dakar Stage 3

Published Jan 7, 2015

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Chilecito, Argentina - The Dakar Rally was in mourning on Tuesday after Polish motorcyclist Michal Hernik died during the third stage from San Juan to Chilecito.

Hernik, 39, was found dead a few hundred metres from the track at the 206km mark of Stage 3 in the northwest of the country, after a helicopter had been sent out to look for him when he failed to turn up at the finish and his tracker stopped sending a signal.

His was the fifth death since the rally was moved to South America over security concerns in the Sahara desert and the 24th overall since the race began in 1979.

Before that, Orlando Terranova had maintained the Mini team's winning streak by claiming his second stage win to move up to third overall in the car standings, led by team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah.

After crashing at the end of the special on Monday, Terranova bounced back on his home soil producing a strong effort in the second part of the special during the 542km stage.

Al-Attiyah, the 2011 champion and winner of Monday's stage, finished fifth in Tuesday's stage which included 284km of specials.

South Africa's Giniel de Villiers picked up his third podium finish in three days, ahead of another Toyota driven by Saudi Arabia's Alrahji Zayed.

Terranova pulled back almost two minutes on De Villiers, the 2009 winner, and more than four minutes on Al-Attiyah in the overall standings.

De Villiers and German navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz posted the second-fastest time on the stage, losing out on a stage win by just 1m54s, but consolidating second place overall, 5m18 behind Al-Attiyah.

De Villiers said from the bivouac near Chilecito, 232km north of the end of Stage 3: “The Hilux ran perfectly and we were very fast. Unfortunately we had a puncture near the end of the stage, costing us some time. Still it looked like we’d won the stage, until Terranova came through and he was just a little bit faster."

For Leeroy Poulter in the second works Toyota, Stage 3 will be one to remember - but not for the reasons he'd hoped. After a great outing on Stage 2, Poulter hit trouble early on Tuesday, when the Hilux made hard contact with a ditch on the route, breaking a lower control arm in the process. He had a spare onboard, but it took 45 minutes to install, and Poulter finished the stage 52nd, more than an hour in arrears, dropping to 21st overall.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz, winner in 2010, finished fourth, 4m6s off the pace, to move up to fourth overall, while fellow Peugeot veteran Stephane Peterhansel, finished seventh, nine minutes off the pace, to sit 16th overall, 1hr12m behind the leader.

Another South African, Nissan Navara driver Johan van Staden, continued to improve as he settled into his second Dakar Rally - his first, in 2013, ended on Day 8 when he crashed and broke the roll cage of his rented McRae MC4. He finished Stage three 36th, moving up four places to 37th overall.

MOTORCYCLES

In the motorcycle section, Austria's Matthias Walkner was a surprise winner of his first Dakar stage, ahead of KTM team-mate and reigning champion Marc Coma and overall race leader Joan Barreda Bort of Spain.

Before learning about Hernik's death, Walkner revealed that he had found the course challenging.

“I made some little mistakes because it was a little bit dangerous today with many stones and it forced you over the limit, but overall it was quite good,” said Walkner.

Overall Honda's Barreda Bort led after three stages, ahead of Portuguese team-mate Paulo Goncalves and Walkner. Coma was fourth, 10m50s adrift.

Barreda Bort said: “It was really dangerous because we were on river beds with a lot of stones and broken up tracks all day.

“Now we go to Chile and there will be different stages and a different feeling so we will see there.”

As yet, organisers have been unable to determine Hernik's cause of death but he was found without his helmet, while his KTM bike showed no signs of having been in a crash.

Top South African rider Riaan van Niekerk put in a solid ride to finish the stage 20th, a little more than 10 minutes in arrears, and retain his fifth place overall, while fellow KTM rider Albert Hintenaus came home 40 minutes further adrift, 74th for the day – but still moved up two places to 67th overall, mostly due to attrition.

Dakar rookie Wessel Bosman, also KTM-mounted, took almost 20 hours to complete the 518km of Stage 2, straggling in stone last just a couple of hours before the start of Stage 3. On Tuesday he lost another 4hr35m – and picked up a one-hour penalty as well! – to drop to 138th and last in the motorcycle standings.

Some 34 vehicles failed to start on Tuesday after falling victim to Monday's longest stage, among them the 4x4 of French duo Catherine Houles and Sandrine Ridet, the only all-girl team in the race.

However for Japanese veteran Sugawara Yoshimasa, 73, the race continues as he looks to continue his 33rd Dakar adventure in Wednesday's fourth stage from Chilecito in Argentina to Copiapo in Chile.

AFP

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