GasGas at Dakar 2018

A clean end to the first marathon stage for all three GasGas riders.

Johnny Aubert breaking into the top 10 overall after placing 10th in the stage. Unfortunately this came at the cost of Xavier DeSoultrait crashing out of the Dakar with a broken elbow and knee. A crushing loss to Yamaha's teamate Adrien VanBeveren who still holds the overall lead just past the halfway point of the rally.

Jonathan Barragan finished 20th overall today. This allows him to stay at 17th overall.

Cristian Espana finished today in 31st which moves him up to 43rd in the general.
 
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CDN Rick said:
Here's to hoping Barreda is back tomorrow and feeling better. All competition is good competition. #anythingbutorange?
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How about orange with white and red graphics? :eek:

Big props to Yamaha for racing and leading on a warmed-up WR450. Bummer about Xavier. Cool to see Brabec starting to assert himself (almost another stage win). Would be nice to see Andrew Short move up a little. Great that he's still healthy though.
 
Holy Shit! what a day! Yamaha is completely out of contention and it looks like I may get my Walkner win afterall!
 
VxZeroKnots said:
Holy Shit! what a day! Yamaha is completely out of contention and it looks like I may get my Walkner win afterall!
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No freakin kidding. Just gutted for AVB. I was really rooting for him. I watched the video of his crash and attempt to ride again afterwards. Just killed me.

Moved all the GG guys up the chain. I just can't believe all 6 of them got lost like that. I guess thats why its a navigation race and not follow-the-leader.
 
Not sure if anyone is following only here. But I'll give a daily update for those who may be.

Due to spectacular navigation mistakes made today by a number of very high profile riders, and a very disapointing crash from VanBeveren that saw him withdraw from the rally, the GG team has had their most successful day at Dakar so far this year.

Aubert finished today 6th in the stage and Barragan 11th. Espana finished 32nd.

This has Aubert staying in 10th and the other riders moving to 16th, and 38th respectively in the overall general standings.
 
KTM have to be the luckiest team out there!!!

Yamaha almost had it in the bag, and being a french rider there were no chances for brand shenanigans ... most exciting dakar since the coma despres years
 
swazi_matt said:
KTM have to be the luckiest team out there!!!

Yamaha almost had it in the bag, and being a french rider there were no chances for brand shenanigans ... most exciting dakar since the coma despres years
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Luckiest or most strategic? Just sit back and wait for all your competition to off themselves. Then cruise to all 3 spots on the podium yet again....
 
Laia Sanz ate crap yesterday and bounced back up ... AVB just happened to wad in a harder packed spot :mad:

Good on Shorty to keep it steady.
 
Barreda has withdrawn. Didn't see that coming.

Still gutted for Yamaha, I really wanted to see them take it.
 
And yet another great day for GasGas at Dakar! The team is consistently posting impressive stage times and quality navigational work.

Johnny Aubert rocketed across Argentina today to an superb 7th place stage time while Barragan and Espana came in at 21st and 22nd respectively.

This moves the three riders to 7th, 16th, and 32nd overall.

Great work GasGas!


I was also sad to see Barreda drop out today. He has been far more resilient than in previous years with a much improved attitude. I do hope he will be back again next year with an improved mental ability and his same fast times.
I too am still gutted today for AVB. I really was hoping this would be his year.


Here's to hoping Benevides can hold the orange boys off for a few more days to take a podium position himself.
 
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swazi_matt said:
Stage cancelled so basically that?s the end for this year
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He can still take the 15m penalty if he decides to swap the engine just to be on the safe side that will not affect the overall result .
Who could have guessed such an outcome for this year's edition ? Really though this year .
 
I'm really blown away by the quality of riders GasGas has put into this rally. I wonder if even they knew this would go so well. If this race goes any longer Gassers will be on all the podium steps.

Johnny Aubert finished today in 6th, Barragan in 9th, and Espana in 20th. First stage of the race that sees all three riders inside the top 20! Really amazing!

This moves them to 6th overall for Aubert, 15th for Barragan, and 30th for Espana. Really really great finishes.

I'm sad that Dakar will be over tomorrow. But excited already for what GasGas will bring for 2019.
 
CDN Rick said:
I'm really blown away by the quality of riders GasGas has put into this rally. I wonder if even they knew this would go so well. If this race goes any longer Gassers will be on all the podium steps.

Johnny Aubert finished today in 6th, Barragan in 9th, and Espana in 20th. First stage of the race that sees all three riders inside the top 20! Really amazing!

This moves them to 6th overall for Aubert, 15th for Barragan, and 30th for Espana. Really really great finishes.

I'm sad that Dakar will be over tomorrow. But excited already for what GasGas will bring for 2019.
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Are you the same cdn rick posting on advrider?
 
swazi_matt said:
Are you the same cdn rick posting on advrider?
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Sure am!! I'm a regular inmate over there!
Feel free to come join me in the "All Things GasGas" thread in Thumpers!!

Just remember to come back here for all the really good stuff.
I post there just to try keep the general riffraff up to date on GG news. I get a lot of PM's thanking me for it so I keep it up as much as I can.
 
GG did great, far exceeding my expectations. Here is to hoping that they put together their own sleds for the 2019 edition.

The same can be said of Toby Price, he trained for six weeks for the toughest offroad race in the world and wound up on the podium. 3-1-dnf-3 is not a bad record at Dakar.

Absolutely pumped for Walkner, no one was more deserving of the win.

Sherco, on the other hand, made a pretty disappointing showing. I realize it's a small effort but it would be so much more interesting to have them higher up in the standings. Maybe Beta showing up for 2019 will light their fire.

For anyone interested here is a documentary about Matthias' struggles coming into the 2016 edition.
https://www.redbull.tv/film/AP-1PWHQZURD1W11/one-track-back
 
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