RallyRAIDio

Stan calls in after a tough day that saw a track with many potential pitfalls and long drop offs for the competitors.

Garry has a great chat with Thomas Berglund, riding his second Dakar with the Sweedish Army team. ARMY. Not bikini.

But anyway -- Thomas fills us in on his race to date, including

overshooting a corner and ending up several hundred meters off piste...

Other than that, going quite well, and hoping for a finish inside the

top 15.

Good luck, Thomas. Hope to hear from you again.

Garry chats with Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues, multi-stage winner in previous Dakar's, who voices perhaps the first leanings toward Africa that I've heard yet thusfar.Great to hear from you, Helder.  Good luck on the rest of the Rally! (And what kind of fairing is that on your KTM?  Hmm?)

Garry gets Pal Anders on the phone after stage 8. The call is dropped,

unfortunately, but it's an honor to hear from the Man in Green -- long,

LONG, flying the flag for privateers on the Rallye circuit.

Good luck, Pal Anders! Hope to hear from you again, and hope you finally get that podium finish you've been working for.

The title pretty much says it all.  After heroically riding through the pain of an existing wrist injury, Jonah has several crashes today and makes the gut wrenching decision to live to fight another day.Jonah's performance and that of Team Rally PanAmerica have been nothing short of spectacular this year.  We hope to see them return next year, and perhaps even for the entire World Championship calendar (dare we hope!) -- continuing the dream that a privateer can end up on the podium of the greatest race on earth.Thank you, Jonah Street, for allowing us to believe that dreams are still achievable. 

Garry interviews David after the rest day. Steady as she goes for David, who finds himself transitioning from an

"attack" mentality, to a "bring it home safely" approach.  Sounds pretty damn prudent given the attrition of late.

Don Hatton calls in after escaping from the hospital following his

stage 4 crash and medivac. So good to hear from you, Don. You had us

all worried there for a while.

Don, it's been a privilege to follow your maturation as a rallye rider.

THANK YOU for allowing us to ride over your shoulder, across the world.

We hope to hear more about your days before your crash, living the dream we all share.

Mend well. Mend completely. Dakar 2010.

Garry calls in from the streets of Valparaiso on the (so called) "rest" day. The

service crews have had a busy day, including motor changes for both

Jonah and David (who has put impressive mileage on the 690 including

multiple rallies). Better safe than sorry. This does put an end to the

marathon class, however.

A great look at what goes on in the service camp. Thanks, Garry!

For those of you who've seen Race to Dakar, listening to Simon Pavey

chat with Garry will be like listening to an old friend regale you with

tales at the local pub. I can see his easy going, ear-to-ear grin right

now.

Thanks for talking with us, Simon. Hope to hear from you again! Enjoy the rest day.

Penalized 4 hours for missing a CP by 60m, Garry (our intrepid reporter) has managed to

get the assessment reversed, preserving David's spot at the pointy end

of the field. Get up to speed with David's race to date.