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ted ad ding water to his bike's radiator, gave the KTM cre w something to get excited about - could it be that the mighty Yamaha 850 was out of the event? The answer ended up being no, but Peterhansel did lose five minutes with overheating problems. Any hopes KTM had of taking advantage of Peterhansel's problems were doused when Meoni suddenly dropped 15 minutes. "We thought we had the lead; then Meoni lost both his navigational systems:' said KTM team manager Heinz Kin igadner. "This is jus t part of th is event, but it's very tough (mentally) on Fabrizio." Sainct took over second place and was now KTM's last hope. Sainct was only about 20 mi nutes behind Peterhansel, and Sainct decided to throw 'everything he had at the leader, taking the stage 12 win and moving to within 19 minutes of the leading Yamaha. Also making progress was Krause, his fourth place keeping him among the top 20. "It was fun . I had an excellent ride," Krause said. "The dust made overtaking a little difficult, but unlike th e guys ahead of me, I'm under no pressure." Haydon was a little worse off. '1 was really getting into it, and then I crashed and got my hand bandaged up; it really cut my speed," the Australian said. . The following days saw riders drop out like flies: Orioli/s BMW gave up in the desert heat; Peterhansel's Yamaha teammate and last year's runner-up David Casters crashed out; and secondplaced Sainct called it quits with a dead engine. Still, KTM had hope, with Meoni running second again and Hayden riding hard in fourth place after winning another stage. '1 started gently to get my wrist loosened up," Haydon said. "It was so dusty, though, and I could no t get by Peterhansel for a long while. In the end, we arrived at the finish together." Cox, meanwhile, was having trouble. "I crashed and wrecked my road book," Cox said of his stage run. '1 then got lost and was abou t 15 minutes back from the others, but I really wanted to do well and caught the lead riders with only a short time to go. I was flat out for sure." Cox still finished second on time, ahead of Peterhansel. With time running ou t, Peterhansel decided to let his rivals have some fun, backing off and wa tch ing the orange machines of Hayden, Meoni and Cox fight for the wins. Deacon set his personal best with a win in stage 15 (which was the first stage win ever for an English rider), while Holland's Gerard Jimmink took a stage w in, as d id Cox and Arca rons, It w as of no consequence, though, as Peterhansel kept his 30minute lea d over Meoni an d took his sixth Dakar victory. In doing so, the king of the African d esert onc e again displayed the talent that everyone will miss come January next year and the year after that. After all, riders like Peterhansel come along once in a lifetime. Unfortunately for Orioli, Arcarons, Haydon, Meoni and many o ther racers, he carne along in their lifetime. ~ Wi" a VA AHA Dag a' '''e Ra c e s Wi'" B u y y our S an Die g o Supercross Tic ke t s from T h e s e Particip a ting Yamaha Dealers a n d Enter to Win! San Dieqo Supercross, S afurday, February 7 ; Qua rcomm S fadium Lucky Winners will Have Lun ch with the Factory Race Tea m , Tour the Team's Sem i-Tr u c k and Pa d doc k • and Hang O ut in th e Pits Befo r e th e Racing. One Winner (two tickets) from each of these pa r t icipating Yama ha D e a le rs Corona Yama"'a 1245 Pomo na Road Co ro na, CA 91720 (909) 738-8 1I I Yama"'a temon Grove 7345 Broadway Lemon Grove, CA 91945 (6 19) 465-5023 Malcolm Smif'" Mot orcycles 7563 Indiana Riverside, CA 92504 (909) 687-1300 Motoworld of EI Caion 660 EI Cajon Blvd EI Cajon, CA 92020 (6 19) 442-33 38 Murrieta Motor Sports 26860 Jefferson Avenue Murrieta, CA 92562 (909) 698-4 123 Fun Bike Center 4689 Convoy Street San Diego, CA 921 I I (619) 278-6635 Nort'" Count y Yanna"'a I3 ISLasVillas W ay Escondido, CA 92026 (760) 432-950 I Sout'" Bay Yanna"'a I West 35th Street National City, CA 91950 (619) 420-2300 San Diego's House of Motorcycles 4904 EI Cajon Blvd San Diego. CA 921 15 (6 19) 229-7700 Smitty 's Yanna"'a 730 PalmAvenue Imperial Beach, CA 9 1932 (619) 423-0073 Motopro 1425 South Coast Hwy . Oceanside, CA 92054 (760) 433-4333 Mission Y ama"'a 25891 Crow nValley Parkway Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 (J 14) 582-035 1 AIM Yama"'a . 12255 Poway Road Poway, CA 92064 (619) 486-4380 Parls-Dakar Rally Dakar, Senegal Results: Jan uary 1·18, 1998 O/A : 1. Stephan e Pet erhansel (Yam) ; 2. Fab rizio Meo ni (KTM); 3. Andy Haydon (KTM); 4. AU., Cox (KTM); 5. Gera rd Jimmink (KTM); 6. Jord i Arca rons (KTM); 7. Dirk von Zitzewitz (KTM); B John Deacon . (KTM); 9. I urgen Mayer (KTM); 10. Slanislav Z10ch (KTM); 11. Eric Verhoef (XTM ); 12. Carlo d e Gavardo (KTM) ; 13. Pienidc Le Blanc (Hen); 14. Norbert Schilcher (KTM); 15. Pau l Krause (lCTM); 16. Patt rick Sireyjol (Hen); 17. Giovanni Sala (KTM); lB. Esteve Pujol Wdre (KTM) ; 19. Franco>. F1ick (Hen); 2O .lwao Hakata (Hen). 15