Frenchmen Cyril Despres and Stephane Peterhansel were close to winning the Dakar Rally after tough finishes on Saturday at the second to the last stage.
Winner Peterhansel already has nine titles while Despres has won three times. The two only needs to compete a 19-mile leg on Sunday at Peruvian capital of Lima.
In general, Peterhansel was 43 minutes ahead of Mini teammate Joan Roma from Spain. But this isn’t enough reason to be relaxed.
Peterhansel said he is still holding his breathe, and will probably take the next breathe on the podium.
Peterhansel has started competing in Dakar in 1988. He has won six motorbike tittles and thrice in cars. The last time he bagged a title was in 2007.
During the 171-mile trip last Saturday, Peterhansel unintentionally won the race held in Nazca and Pisco. The place features confusing valleys and dunes. Cautiously, Peterhansel finished the race 8 minutes and 29 seconds ahead of Giniel De Villiers from South Africa, Toyota 2009 Winner.
Initially, he never thought of winning. The first thing he really wanted was to avoid falling into traps. He was stuck on the sand yesterday. He considers it the toughest stage of the entire Dakar race.
Meanwhile, Ryan Dungey was a sure win on the Monster Energy AMA Supercross race held last Saturday night at Chase Field. He defeated Jake Weimer and even the defending champion Ryan Villopoto.
It was Dungey’s first victory for the year. But Dungey admitted he put all his effort last Saturday night since he finished third behind Villopoto in the season opener last week. This time Villopoto was third behind Jake Weimer.