ROUND 1 / JANUARY 5-19, 2024
DAKAR RALLY / YANBU, SAUDI ARABIA
OFF-ROAD I FIM WORLD RALLY-RAID CHAMPIONSHIP
P80
uncharacteristically subdued Da-
kar for Price, the Australian failing
to
gain a stage win and generally
finishing in the lower half of the
top 10 in each stage, but a late
charge saw him nab second on
Stage 12, hoisting him into fifth
by the rally's end.
Rounding out the top 10 for the
rally were Cornejo (Honda), Lucia
-
no Benavides (Husqvarna), Daniel
Sanders (GasGas), Stefan
Svitko
(KTM) and Martin Michek (KTM).
As for the remaining Americans,
Skyler Howes (Honda) suffered
a mechanical on the 48 Hour
Chrono stage and ground to a
permanent halt, Kyle McCoy (KTM)
came home 63rd, Weston Carr
(Husqvarna) was 75th, and Jacob
Argubright (Honda) was 90th.
Argubright was comfortably run
-
ning in the top 25 until a mechani-
cal on Stage 3 saw him abandon
the stage
and take a 5-hour time
penalty, thus ruining any chance of
a decent finish.
Mason Klein had a Dakar to
forget in 2024. Shocking the rally
world by making a late switch to
the unproven Chinese Kove ma
-
chine, the American was running
third
after Stage 1 but an engine
problem stopped him on Stage 2,
losing him over two hours getting
it fixed. He continued on, only
to stop for good on the 48 Hour
Chrono stage.
CN
OVERALL
1. Ricky Brabec (Honda) 51:30:08
2. Ross Branch (Hero) +10:53
3. Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) +12:25
4. Kevin Benavides (KTM) +38:48
5. Toby Price (KTM) +45:28
(Top) Kevin Benavides took three stage wins, but still finished nearly
40 minutes down from Brabec. (Above) After nine years of trying, Van
Beveren finally made it onto the podium in third.