On the last day in the Atacama Desert in the 2011 Dakar Rally, Jonah Street took the Stage 9 victory aboard a Yamaha.
Street was followed to the line Tuesday 3:38 seconds later by Frans Verhoeven (Belgium) on a BMW, and David Casteu (France) Sherco, who trailed by 3:40. The KTM rider in the overall Dakar lead, Marc Coma, and the man following him, Cyril Despres, also on a KTM, were surprisingly not in the top five at Stage 9.
And although Despres didn’t have a productive day in regards to gaining time on Coma, the two still hold a major lead over the rest of the motorcycle field with four Dakar stages remaining. In third is Chilean rider Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez, who trails Coma by 23:33.
Lopez’s Aprilia is the closest to the KTM riders; the man in fourth place, Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha), is just over an hour behind Coma.
For Stage 10 on Wednesday, the riders will travel from Copiapo to Chilecito, 686 km of road, and a short special of 176 km through the Andes and hot white dunes of Fiambala back in Argentina.
2011 Dakar Rally Stage 9 Results 1. Jonah Street, USA, Yamaha, 03:06.56 2. Frans Verhoeven, Belgium, BMW, at 3:38 3.David Casteu, France, Sherco, 3:40 4. Guell Farres, Spain, Aprilia, 4:30 5. Jordi Viladoms, Spain, Yamaha, 5:46 7. Cyril Despres, Andorra, KTM, 6:03 9. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM 7:08
Benda motorcycles are beginning to make a ripple on US shores with four intriguing and competitive models, courtesy of its partnership with Keeway Group. We were impressed with the Napoleonbob 500 and have now gotten our gloves on the persuasive, entry-level 2026 Benda Chinchilla 300, with its modest MSRP of $4999. It would be difficult to design a more welcoming entry-level cruiser than this easy-handling, visually appealing boulevard bobber. Editor Don Williams and Associate Editor Kelly Callan discuss the Benda Chinchilla 300 and how it actually rode for them.
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Our guest this episode is Jesse Merriman, Chief Technician for Jeremy McWilliams at the Arch Motorcycle racing project. Arch Racing was founded by Gard Hollinger and Keanu Reevs to compete in the Moto America Super Hooligan race series. Teejay Adams chats with Jesse about the Arch motorcycle and the challenges of extracting the absolute most from an air-cooled V-Twin racing engine and custom chassis.
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Here’s quick reminder to check out our monthly digital magazine. It’s filled with everything you want to read on motorcycling, including some things you’ve probably not seen elsewhere. It’s absolutely free and you will find it on the Apple App Store and of course on Google Play as well.
Don’t forget to leave us your comments on our social media—we’re on all the usual platforms at Ultimate Motorcycling. We love hearing your feedback… so good or bad, please let us know what you think. If there’s something you’d like us to cover, we’d love to hear those ideas too!
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