Dakar

Team Honda Europe final preparations for 2012 event

Team Honda Europe press release

Edited: Jan 2, 2012, 4:56 PM

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The sun sets on Mar del Plata

Final Preparations In Place for Bel-Ray Super B Honda Dakar Challenge

The sun sets on Mar del Plata

Photo by: Team Gordon

With just two days to go until the start of the notoriously tough Dakar race, which will begin in Argentina on Sunday 1st January 2012, the Bel-Ray SuperB Honda team has been working hard to finish preparations and finalise the huge operation for its riders Quinn Cody, Sam Sunderland and Juan Carlos.

Both the team and riders had a good trip over earlier n the week, with the riders taking the eight-hour trip from airport to hotel to acclimatise themselves ahead of the race. The team had a much bigger task on their hands as they drove the long trip to the port to collect the six trucks and four cars that will be the support service for the 15-day Dakar race.

Once they returned to the hotel in Mar Del Plata the technicians began preparing the specially modified CRF 450X machines, however it’s been a tough week for the team as the bike for last year’s top ten finisher, Quinn Cody, failed to arrive and had in fact been sent to Peru. With only a few days to spare, Cody’s bike thankfully arrived on Thursday and everything is now ready to go.

Tonight (Friday 30th December) and tomorrow the bikes will go through scrutineering after the final preparations are made for Cody’s bike and the riders underwent a lengthy briefing today. The Dakar race will kick off Sunday at 5.45am ART time (GMT – 4 hours) with all of the entrants being set off at regular intervals.

“It’s been a busy week,” said Team Owner Henk Hellegers. “We had a long drive to the port to get the vehicles, and then to the hotel to meet the riders. We’ve had a lot of preparation to do and to be honest we were very nervous about the situation with Quinn’s bike. Anyway, thankfully it arrived on Thursday and the whole team joined together in making sure it is ready. The riders had a briefing today and tonight we start with the scrutineering, tomorrow the riders also get an opportunity to do some riding. We’re very happy with everything and it’s looking good; we’re now ready to race.”

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