DIRT NEWS
Teaming up with Sunderland once again is Aussie battler Daniel Sanders who spent most of the 2022 season recovering from injury . Ripping into his first competitive ride in the Prologue for this year ’ s Dakar , ‘ Chucky ’ Sanders let it be known that he is in top physical condition riding his GasGas into second place and scoring a comfortable starting postiion at the back of the pack for the event ’ s first stage . The reverse starting order put Sanders in perfect position to dominate the first stage where he crossed the finish line of Stage 1 in the lead . However , he dropped back to 7th place overall after being penalised three minutes for speeding . Taking out the prologue stage was Sander ’ s biggest home grown rival - Toby Price - who kept his head down through the first stage of
the rally to maintain optimal starting position in the rally . The Monster Energy Honda Team , the only other team to score overall victory in the past 20 years other than KTM and GasGas , looks solid in the early stages of the Rally . 2020 ’ s Dakar champ , Ricky Brabec , took the win on Stage 1 after Sander ’ s time penalty cost him the stage win . At the time of writing it is still very early in the Rally , and as we saw with Sunderland , you cannot take anything for granted in the Dakar . With teams still to cover another week and a half of racing and strategies attempting to be in the best position for the final push to the finish line , the only thing that is guaranteed is it ’ ll be a spectacular race .
SLIP BLOCKS 42 TRAVERSE
For those looking to spend some of their summer weekends blasting over one of the North Island ’ s most fun tracks the news ain ’ t good . With the torrential rain coming in to the summer period , a large slip formed on the central plateau ’ s 42 Traverse which has resulted in the route becoming impassable . The slip washed away a section of 150 metres of the track between the turn off to Top / Clymo Track and the turnoff to Waione / Cokers Track about two-thirds of the way through the track from the Karpoors Rd entrance . Investigations into the slip are ongoing , but recent reports indicate the situation is getting worse rather than better at the time of writing . Due to the partial closure , the 42 Traverse is not operational as a full end-to-end experience but the remainder of the track is open . The Top / Clymo Track and Ten Man Hut are accessible from Ohinetonga Reserve in Owhango , and Waione / Cokers Track is accessible from Kapoors Road .
94 KIWI RIDER