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IN THE WIND P48 GONCALVES WINS, SHORT PODIUMS AT INCA RALLY T he Monster Energy Honda took their third win in a row in South America this month, with Paulo Goncalves topping the Desafio Inca Rally. Goncalves bested Red Bull KTM's Matthias Walkner and Rockstar Energy Husky's Andrew Short on the overall podium. Third place for Short marked a career-best for the American who tackled the sand dunes of Peru to land his first- ever rally podium. Fellow American Ricky Brabec landed eighth overall aboard his factory Honda. "It was good to ride alongside the best riders in the world and learn from them," said Short. "I could see their rhythm and how they navigate in the dunes. Stage three was quite different to the first two days. We weren't grouped up with the other riders so I had to navigate a lot during the day. I did my best to avoid mistakes and my speed was a little bit slower than the other two days. Overall, this event has been loads of fun. Hopefully I can keep building on my speed and navigation so that I can be ready for the coming Dakar." Although the Desafio Inca is not an FIM World Championship round, the event saw no shortage of talent, with top riders from the Honda, KTM, Husqvarna and Yamaha rally teams competing. The race is undoubtedly an ideal training exercise for the Dakar Rally, as the 2019 event will take place entire within the country of Peru. Winner Paulo Goncalves called it "an important test" for the team, and was satisfied to claim the overall victory. "I am happy for myself and for the team. This was a race with riders with a very good pace. You have to stay attentive and not relax. The most important race is still to come." Former Dakar Champion Toby Price finished a dismal ninth place after experiencing difficulty with his GPS on day two of the three-day rally. The Australian started out leading the way on day one, but soon reported problems. "I'm not sure why, but even though we were all riding together, my GPS didn't record one particu- lar waypoint," Price explained. "It's really strange because it seems I was the only one who missed it and I had to turn around and retrace my steps to try and validate it. After that, and even though I was in the tracks of the leading group, the GPS failed to pick up another waypoint. It then jumped about 15 km and I think it's missed others, too. It's frustrating because it makes my results look bad through no fault of my own. On the plus side, I still feel strong in myself and we're getting some good data riding the bike here in the dunes." CN Overall Results: 1. Paulo Goncalves (Hon) 10:08:13 2. Matthias Walkner (KTM) +2:51 3. Andrew Short (Hus) +8:24 4. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Hon) +10:02 5. Adrien Van Beveren (Yam) +10:56 6. Kevin Benavides (Hon) +11:04 7. Franco Caimi (Yam) +13:20 8. Ricky Brabec (Hon) +28:30 9. Toby Price (KTM) +29:09 10. Lorenzo Santolino (Shr) +36:59 PHOTOGRAPHY BY HONDA HRC Monster Energy Honda's Paulo Goncalves took a significant win at the Desafio Inca Rally in Peru.