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Back to September 2012 Motorsports News Archive
| 28-09-2012 at 09:00: Smith and Hederics at Home on the Range in Leg 5 | |
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After two stages totalling 448km, the moto lead has been held by Jake Smith, with Warren Strange still in pursuit. Brother Vern Strange is out of podium contention after a mechanical issue forced him out of the second stage. This brings Ivan Erceg to third with South African rider Brett Cummings taking the Dakar Challenge lead. The Dakar Challenge dream is over for Dutch rider Alex van Heertum. He came off his bike and was met within minutes by the medical team, flown to the Safari bivouac, and driven by the medics to Carnarvon Hospital and is in a stable condition. American rider Michael Johnson, also a Dakar Challenge contender, broke his arm after coming off his bike and has been flown by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Perth for treatment. The Dakar Challenge will now be fought between Brett Cummings, Melchior van Heertum and Guy Henley, Russell Scoble, Todd Smith and Vern Strange. Jake Smith said had a good day and won the first stage and retained a 28-minute lead. ”I took it easy and didn’t have to push. My only drama was the battery died in the automatic scroll so I had to scroll it by hand for the last 250km. It was a fun stage, technical, and had everything – washaways, creeks…I enjoyed it.” Rod Faggotter, who won the second stage, said he was riding for fun. “I really enjoyed it. I liked the stages, there was a bit of everything. The tracks were open and flowing, it was tricky to navigate so I had to be on my game. The bike is going great. I came across a lot of cattle and had to ride around and through herds – it was just like mustering back home!”
Paul Smith still comfortably holds the Quad lead with almost an hour to spare but he said the day wasn’t without drama. “50km into the last stage today I lost my front brakes, so I had to ride 250km with no brakes! I had a few sketchy moments, there were close calls with gutters and I couldn’t pull the quad up fast enough – I was having memories of last year when I broke my leg. Otherwise the stages were awesome and technical.” Hederics and Weel in the Holden Colorado continue their comfortable lead of 47 minutes over Rob Herridge and Sam Hill’s Subaru Forester, which continues to punch above its weight. Reg Owen and Russel Cairns have held their third place gained on Wednesday after a solid drive in the Nissan Patrol. Hederics said they had a good, challenging day. “There were a lot of gutters it was really rough and tough, we drove carefully to preserve the car, we backed off and consolidated.” Geoff Olholm, who won the second stage today with navigator Gordon Trigg said you had to be on the ball the whole time today. “It was a bit sweaty on that 300km stage! It was the best stage we have ever driven. It was tough – à la Dakar. It was a brilliant stage.” Today the Australasian Safari competition moves to Jimba Jimba Station, Winderie Station, Wooramel River, Hamelin on the coast between Carnarvon and Kalbarri and then south to the Murchison river finishing in Kalbarri. The 431km of competitive stages includes red dunes, fences, saltbush flats, river crossings and typical rough outback station roads.
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The vast and remote pastoral station of Bidgemia in the Western Australian Gascoyne region hosted Thursday’s Leg of the Australasian Safari and although the country hospitality was warm and friendly, the course was just the opposite. 
Many riders enjoyed the long stages. Experienced Safari and Dakar campaigner David Schwarz said he had a great day and he was happy with his bike that hadn’t missed a beat.
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