Posted on 4th Jan 2011 @ 8:45 PM

January 3 2011, Stage 2 standings:  Quinn Cody 12th;  Alexey Naumov 86th;  Vadim Pritulyak 97th; Mirjam Pol 103th

Easy to make mistakes

The second day in the Dakar was again well over 700 kilometers long, just like yesterday. As Quinn Cody mentioned, it was easy to make mistakes which was confirmed by the many missed turns and many crashes. All four riders got through the day without too many difficulties. For the mechanics this means just the regular maintenance. New oil, fresh airfilters, and checking if the bikes are ok.
Only Quinn Cody (Nr.15) keeps on developing his bike with little adjustments, the others are satisfied with the way things are going. Although, not quite. Mirjam Pol was again not happy with her result of the day. 

Quinn Cody. Just missed a pig

Quinn Cody didn’t take too many risks. ,,It was very easy to make mistakes. You could tell from the tire marks that the leaders were really taking risks, I tried to be smooth. At some point you have to choose. Maintain a speed which allows me to follow my roadbook, or just go after my instinct and follow the tracks from the other guys, I choose to read the roadbook, we still have a long way to go. I got overtaken by Olivier Pain, just before the fuel stop. In the end of the special I caught up with Jordi Viladoms. Navigation wasn’t too hard, because of the many spectators. I had a scary moment when a huge pig was in the middle of the track, it must have been around 200 kilos, I missed it by 3 inches!’’

Mirjam Pol

Mirjam Pol (Nr.58): ,,Just like yesterday I had a bad day. Not completely, because I gained 30 positions before the fuel stop.  I overtook some people in the dust, some others by riding clever. But after the fuel stop I was stuck behind 3 quads which made so much dust I couldn’t get past. So most of the 30 riders passed me again and in the end I was back where I started. The good thing was, that the riding went a lot better. Bad thing is I again have to start in a position where I don’t want to be. Further back you also have to deal with the ruts created by all the riders which have already passed, making the track harder to ride.’’