Dakar
Dakar: Yamaha stage 4 report
Action heats up as Dakar hits Africa Frétigné ploughs through the mud At 75kms, the first African special of the 2004 Dakar might have been short but it nevertheless caused plenty of upsets, not least for Yamaha Motor France's David Frétigné ...
Edited: Jan 7, 2004, 1:11 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Action heats up as Dakar hits Africa
Frétigné ploughs through the mud
At 75kms, the first African special of the 2004 Dakar might have been short but it nevertheless caused plenty of upsets, not least for Yamaha Motor France's David Frétigné who lost his lead after stopping to fix a fuel supply problem on his two-wheel-drive Yamaha WR450F 2-Trac.
The Frenchman arrived in Morocco as the overall leader but slipped back to 23rd after a troublesome day saw him lose approximately six minutes as he stopped to reroute a breather pipe.
"It was a very short night for me -- I went to bed at about three in the morning and got up again at five -- and I only really slept for an hour out of the two," commented the three-time world enduro champion I was really cold during the first liaison -- after 18km my teeth were chattering and there were still 200 left to go! Right from the start of the special the engine was running rough. Fortunately I realised straight away that it was a fuel supply problem. I stopped and found a breather pipe had been snagged in the fairing. In all I lost about six minutes sorting everything out. It's a pity because the special was really good and would have suited my bike perfectly. I could have certainly stayed in the top three overall. Now I'm worried about getting too tired and I will eat and go to bed early."
Tomorrow sees a change of terrain The slippery conditions, wetter than would normally be expected in the conditions proved tricky for many riders. Last year's winner Richard Sainct, was another big name rider to hit problems, crashing in the first few kilometres and cut his arm, while Nani Roma lost precious minutes when his bib mousse in his tyre broke up.
Victory on the special went to Fabrizio Meoni ahead of Alfie Cox with Esteve Pujol third (all KTM). Overall Esteve Pujol leads by 14 seconds from Meoni with Despres third, a further three seconds behind. Frétigné took 9m33 to complete the stage, finishing in 39th. He is now in 23rd position overall, 6m 57 behind Esteve Pujol.
Tomorrow the competitors tackle 337km of special stages between Er Rachidia and Ouarzazate, where they will be tackling the first dunes of this classic rally.
-yamaha-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dakar stage 4 results - Bike
Next article Dakar: KTM stage 4 report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Fabrizio Meoni
Red Bull celebrates Dakar 2013 victories - video
Dakar
Dakar
Red Bull celebrates Dakar 2013 victories - video
Gordon storms to victory while Peterhansel lost time on stage 12
Dakar
Dakar
Gordon storms to victory while Peterhansel lost time on stage 12
Reflection of the first part of the Dakar 2012 event
Dakar
Dakar
Reflection of the first part of the Dakar 2012 event
Latest news
Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
5 h
Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts
Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
9 h
Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict
Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 10 h
Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test
Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
11 h
Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe