Though he struggled to a 10th-place finish during stage 11 of the 2020 Dakar Rally, Monster Energy Honda Team’s Ricky Brabec holds the overall lead with one stage remaining.The Californian finished 11:48 minutes behind the stage-11 winner, Husqvarna Factory Rally Team’s Pablo Quintanilla.Taking the final podium positions were KTM Factory Racing Team pilots Matthias Walkner and Luciano Benavides, respectively.
Honda’s Ricky BrabecAs the 2020 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia enters the final stage, Brabec, who DNF while in the lead at the previous two Dakar Rallies, holds a 13:56-minute lead over Pablo Quintanilla.In third, 22:34 behind is last year’s rider who claimed 18-straight Dakar wins for KTM – Toby Price.Brabec, who chases his first Dakar win, has held the overall lead since day three. He will do whatever possible to retain the lead in stage 12, which takes riders from Haradh and Qiddiyah.A 232-special that will feature a 12-mile Qiddiya Trophy GP, obligatory for the riders who finish on the final podium of this edition of the Dakar, although the result will have no effect on the final standings of the rally.“There’s one stage left,” Ricky Brabec says. “The team is working well. I’m pretty excited. I can’t get my hopes up right now. Stage 11 here in the dunes was pretty tough. Starting up front due to the cancellation of the second part.“So it was really hard to judge the time. Tomorrow there is one stage left and I’m in a good starting position. I’m confident to be focused and make it to the finish line.”
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
