The streets of San Rafael were lined again with thousands and thousands of fans waiting for the arrival of the Dakar Rally to their town. It was miles and miles of screaming fans cheering and yelling with excitement. The Bivouac is north of town and is situated in a large grass and dirt field. For the first time in rally we beat the Hummers to the bivouac. We have always arrived later in the evening due to the odd assistance and press roads that we are mandated to take. If we do not follow the route that is given, the team can be fined severely and time can be penalized on the over all time of the race vehicle. We have tracking devises on the Hummer H1’s that keep track of our movements. We also have very strict restrictions on speed limits on the open highways and especially on small villages.

Stage 5 started out great for Team Dakar USA when we got word that at Kilometer 31 Robby was leading the race. The special turned out to be a no holds bar match. The lead changed several times for the next 300 km. Robby suffered a broken wheel and that put him down for three minutes. They changed the tire but suddenly were stuck in the very soft terrain, the car just sunk in the sand. Robby was stuck for about 4 more minutes. They finally made it out and quickly gained their pace. Soon after the tire that was changed came loose from the rear spare mount and the inflation system cable got tangled in one of the engine belts. They stopped to install a new belt setting them back again. The Hummer easily lost 11 minutes in the stage, which could have been a win for the team. At one point of the race, Robby was down 11 minutes from the lead pace. He rallied back, 8 minutes behind, 5 minutes behind and finally ended up finishing 3rd with a time of 5 hours 51 minutes and 55 seconds. Only 4 minutes and 32 seconds behind the stage winner De Villiers. Robby now sits 7th overall and is 41 minutes and 48 seconds behind the Over all leader Al Attiyah. Eric Vigouroux finished 28th for the day and now sits in 31st over all.

Related posts:

1. Robby Gordon – Day 3
2. Carlos Sainz wins, Robby Gordon impresses
3. First stage 2010 Dakar Roma BMW X-Raid victorious
4. Miller with stage win, Sainz takes lead
5. Peterhansel’s 54th Dakar stage win

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This post was written by Memin