GREAT DAY FOR CRESCENT KTM AND FRONT ROW GB SEES THEM SCALE THE LEADER BOARD

In a timed special stage that ran over 379km, the two men battled hard for positions with Forman securing his best result of his maiden Dakar in 28th. Watt ignored the effects of his injured shoulder and battled on to finish in 30th place.
By saving their best until last, while some of their rivals faltered, the two men now sit in 25th and 26th place overall, with Watt leading his team-mate by just 1m 20 seconds after 13 days of high drama racing.

Tomorrow’s 14th and final stage will take them through Chile alongside the Pacific Ocean as the riders head from La Serena into Santiago. Cyril Despres from France on a KTM still leads the bike rally, with KTM filling the top five places as the race draws to a close.

Stan Watt: “At the start there was about 80km which was flat out and that suited me really well. The bike was quick and it pulled a genuine 165kph – she was hauling on! The only thing that was a match for it was the factory Yamaha’s.

“When we got into the sand there was some riders making navigational mistakes, but I stuck to my own plan and it worked out well for me. That was when I bumped into Tim – quite literally. After that I thought I was cracking on and going well until Tim came past and pulled away! He was on the gas today and running a pace too quick for me to ride and navigate at.”



Tim Forman: “I got stuck under the bike at one point. I tried to get over a big dune and didn’t quite make it to the crest. It was really soft sand and when I got off the bike my feet just sunk in and the bike fell on top of me. I had to drag myself out and because the sand was so soft it was really difficult trying to get the bike picked-up.  After that I rode like an idiot and made some navigational mistakes and at one point I actually met Stan going the other way!

“In the second half of the stage I got with the Aussie Honda guy Waren Strange who was going well. I check navigated him and we made up some places together. The second half of the special was really fast I really pushed hard to make up some time. It’s a good result.”