Dakar Day three – Simon Pavey Blog

Simon Pavey used his experience gained from competing in seven Dakar rallies during his careers to post another strong result on day three of the 2009 event.

The 41 year old Australian claimed an impressive 81st position on the shortened 551KM third stage and now sits in 85th position.

• Dakar day two blog

Writing for MCN, Pavey said:

“Today was a long special, with easy wide dirt roads. Basically you could ride as fast as you wanted and many people did and then cooked their engines. There were bikes stopped along the side of the track.

“It’s only day three of the Rally and I want to get to the end, so I rode consistently on my BMW G 650 Xchallenge to the end of the Special Stage and it paid off because the bike was running perfectly all day.

“There was a beautiful twisty section in the Special that I really enjoyed, but overall, I didn’t find today physically challenging. In fact, I was cold riding the bike. After riding the Special I saw a queue of BMW GS’s lined-up along the Liaison section, where I met up with the Globebusters crew.

“The Brit’s were in great spirits and we had a laugh and joke before I finished the day and arrived at the bivouac, which is set up at a giant old disused railway yard. It is quite surreal actually.

“I managed to fix a problem I’ve been having with the GPS and trip meter,” “On the second day I was penalised for missing a way point. Then today the GPS didn’t click over when I was approximately 100km into the Stage, so I used my road book for navigation.

“My trip meter was spot on and I knew I was right. At the end of today, the organisers said that I had hadn’t followed the GPS and was off course, but it finally came down to the GPS. Apparently they had been wrong and all of the competitors GPS’s had been reprogrammed except for mine. So the penalty will be taken off my results from yesterday.

“Day 4 of the Rally is going to be a tougher, with a long 450km Special Stage. I think it will be the turning point of the Rally. Looking at the road book, the terrain looks more technical and rough. I think this is when the real Rally begins.”

Stage 3 results – Day 3 of 16

1. Marc Coma – Spain                                                               05:18.17
2. Pal Anders Ullevalseter – Norway                                           +00:17.49
3. Jordi Viladoms – Spain                                                           +00:17.49
27. Stanley Watt – GBR                                                            +00:40.13
33. Mick Extance – GBR                                                            +00:50.55
76. Jonathan Stamper – GBR                                                    +01:29.49
81. Simon Pavey – World of BMW – Australia/GBR              +01:33.22
104. Craig Bounds – GBR                                                          +01:47.45
145. Ewan Buchan – GBR                                                                   +02:37.23

Overall Results – Day 3 of 16 – 180 finishers, 235 started on 3 January 2009

1.     Marc Coma – Spain
2.     David Fretigne – France
3.     Pal Anders Ullevalseter – Norway
22. Stanley Watt – GBR
31. Mick Extance – GBR
85. Simon Pavey – Australia/GBR – World of BMW
98. Jonathan Stamper – GBR
142. Ewan Buchan – GBR
145. Craig Bounds – GBR