Change of leader in motorcycles: Cornejo signs the second stage victory and leads from Branch

The Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) is the new leader of the Dakar Rally in motorcycles by conquering the fourth stage of the Dakar Rally, the second part of the semi-marathon, which brought the survivors of the first week from Al Salamiya to Al Hofuf after of the 299-kilometer special. The Honda rider from Botswana Ross Branch (Hero) leads by 1’15” and his teammate Ricky Brabec is 4’56”.

Since the first steps through ‘way points’ Cornejo has reigned. Although Branch still passed the first PK, from the second onwards the Chilean showed consistent speed and had another march ahead of the other favorites for the general classification. By the middle of the stage (km188) he had a 1’25” advantage over Brabec, who opened the track with Kevin Benavides and accumulated the relevant bonuses.

Branch maintained a virtual lead in the general classification for a few seconds after letting himself be caught by the Chilean and they rode together.

Cornejo set the best time at km 263, the last checkpoint before the finish line, and was more than 2’30” ahead of Ricky Brabec, whose bonus of 1’01” was not enough to take the lead. And it was in the final stretch that Cornejo not only took the stage victory, his second in this edition and eighth ever, but also the overall lead after letting go of the Botswanan Ross Branch in the final stretch, who was beaten by the goal 4’26” and he came in with the steering wheel twisted from a possible fall.

Ricky Brabec was second in 2’59” and Kevin Benavides third in 3’18” once bonuses were deducted for opening both tracks in the second part of the semi-marathon stage.

In his first remarks, the Chilean explained that despite having “lost some time at the beginning due to some small navigational errors. Then I decided to push hard and during the refueling I realized that I was having a good episode.”

The biggest victims of the day were two-time champion Toby Price and his compatriot Pablo Quintanilla, who lost by 15’08” and 18’39” at the finish line.

Barreda, again burdened with penalties

Joan Barredawho after the early goodbyes of Tosha Schareina and Loren Santolino remains the only Spanish asset among the motorcycles to finish in the top-10, again received a one-minute penalty after finishing the stage in sixth position with a 7’15” lost to Cornejo and lost a place. In the general standings, he remains eleventh in 42’34”, but without the 21-minute penalty he had he would have been in the top-5.

The man from Castellón attributes this to not hearing the beep of the Sentinel warning of speed control and not braking in time to avoid being penalized. It might be a problem with the Sentinel because it’s positioned on its handlebars, maybe the Hero’s engine is louder than the Honda’s to which my ears are used, or its earplugs at this rally. The truth is that this is something they must resolve because it cost the Dakarian veteran a good position.