Ricky Brabec is one step away from becoming a two-time Dakar motorcycle champion. The American pilot, Champion of the Dakar in 2020, a course where it managed to end KTM’s 18-year dominance, will once again cut the superiority of the Austrian firm and those under its umbrella after the victories of Sunderland in 2022 (GasGas) and Kevin Benavides in 2023 (KTM ). He pilot from San Bernardino, California, age 32 (April 21, 1991)will face the final stage, of 175 timed kilometers to the final finish line of the Dakar, with an advantage leading the motos of 10 minutes and 22 seconds over one of the great protagonists of this edition, Ross Branch.
The Botswana rider wants to make history by becoming the first winner with a Hero, with an Indian motorcycle that at first seemed to be behind Honda or KTM. However, as his team name suggests, he dressed as a hero until the decisive stretch when Ricky Brabec took the helm and took an important step forward.
Brabec, good rally finale against Branch
At the end of stage 7, after almost 2,800 km of qualifying, the distance between them was 1 second. After stage 8, 42. And from there, Brabec hit the gas with fewer errors. He gained a 7 minute margin on stage 8 and increased his advantage to 10′ yesterday. He took a risk by winning that stage 10. That was his strategy. Increase your cushion and defend it by opening court on the last day. He defended himself, opening the track all day, at a great pace. Branch won stage 11, trying hard, with his last bullet. But Brabec was able to neutralize that attack with his great speed and consistency and a bonus 5’45” for the lead that allowed him to finish the stage just 32 seconds behind Branch.
In this way, Brabec has a 10’22” margin to complete a final stage where no major complications are expected. He has everything to declare the winner of the world’s toughest race twice.
For his part, Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) was just over 4 minutes away from the second position, consolidating his 3rd place on the Dakar podium. The Frenchman has a double fourth position in 2017 and 2022 as his best Dakar results and faces his best chance of securing third place after his Honda team-mate, Nacho Cornejo, gave him the place that’s because of the problems he had with the fuel pump from the front tank of your Honda from the beginning of the special.
When Nacho ran out of gas in the rear tank, he had to remove the front tank to put gas in the rear tank and continue. And with that setback he reached the finish line in Yanbu, losing 25’28” on this stage, which left him in fourth position in the Dakar on motorcycles, 38’44” from the lead. Kevin Benavides was 5th in 41 minutes and Toby Price was 6th in 47’59”. Luciano Benavides was 7th in 55 minutes and Daniel Sanders, Svitko and Michek completed the Top-10 overall on the last day remaining, where Brabec will go to his second coronation.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
