VOLUME 57 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 7, 2020 P33
penalty for the roadbook infrac-
tion, dropping his lead to just five
seconds over Brabec with Walkner
another 35 seconds down, with
Brabec's Honda teammate Kevin
Benavides fourth, and former
Dakar Champion and current
FIM Cross-Country Rallies World
Champion Sam Sunderland (Red
Bull KTM) fifth, 3:15 behind Price.
American Andrew Short (Rock-
star Energy Husqvarna Factory
Racing) finished Stage One in
ninth, 07:13 behind Price.
The Stage Two marathon stage
was held between Al Waj and
Neom, and saw a small slice of
Dakar history created as Botswa-
na's Ross Branch (KTM) took his
and his country's first Dakar stage
victory.
Starting 14th, Branch stormed to
the stage win by catching his rivals
one by one as the race followed
the Red Sea coastline, finishing
1:24 ahead of new overall leader
Sunderland with Pablo Quintanilla
(Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Fac-
tory Racing) third on the stage to
move into second overall.
"Starting 14th this morning
helped a lot because there were
some tracks that opened the
road," said Branch. "I had a lot of
fun and tried to ride my own race.
I navigated well today which was
really good for me and I think it
helped a lot. Then I just took it
easy, one by one, just trying to
catch the guys. I had a lot of fun
and it was an awesome day."
While Branch was busy taking
the stage win, Toby Price's day
was the opposite of his Stage-One
success. The Aussie opened the
road in the morning, leading the
competitors and making a trail
for those to follow. Price finished
12:13 behind Branch in 15th, drop-
ping to ninth in the standings, 7:34
behind Sunderland.
"Today was always going to be
tough, leading out from the start
without having had much time to
read the roadbook," Price said.
"The stage went okay, I lost some
time to the others, but the most
important thing is I looked after my
bike and the tires so should be in
good shape to close down on the
leaders again tomorrow. There's
still a long, long way to go, but the
bike is working great, things are
looking good and I'm happy."
Brabec's day was not much bet-
ter than Price's, as the Californian
finished in 11th, 8:45 off and one
place behind countryman Short.
Brabec now sits in fifth overall.
Short is in 10th after Stage Two.
Sunderland's second place on
Stage Two sees the Brit in the box
seat heading into Day Three with a
1:18 lead over Quintanilla.
"It was a really tough day today
and it felt very long," said Sunder-
land. "There was a huge mix of
terrain with high-speed tracks and
then slower technical sections. In
and out of the canyons there were
a lot of lines visible and that made
navigation more of a challenge. I
made a couple of mistakes, but I
think everyone did out there today."
Stage Three and is a loop
stage that will run from Neom and
back. CN
Overall Results (After Stage Two)
1. Sam Sunderland (KTM)
2. Pablo Quintanilla (Hus) +1:18
3. Kevin Benavides (Hon) +1:32
4. Matthias Walkner (KTM) +2:00
5. Ricky Brabec (Hon) +4:11
6. Ross Branch (KTM) +4:19
7. Luciano Benavides (KTM) +6:01
8. Joan Barreda (Hon) +6:09
9. Toby Price (KTM) +7:34
10. Andrew Short (Hus) +9:24
Toby Price's race started
with a win but a tough
second stage saw the
Aussie slip to ninth overall.
PHOTO: RALLY ZONE/KTM IMAGES
