Monster Energy Continues To Dominate Dakar as Honda Team’s Jose “Nacho” Cornejo Wins Stage 2

Another Dakar Rally stage – another victory for Monster Energy! Saturday’s second stage of the off-road contest by which all others are measured went to Monster Energy/Honda Team’s Jose “Nacho” Cornejo, who locked down his seventh career Dakar stage win, coming in an impressive 5:59 ahead of Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna). Monster Energy/Honda Team’s Pablo Quintanilla also ran very well on the stage, making the podium with a 3rd place run.

With Sebastian Buhler (Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy) and Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda Team) also making the top five on Stage 2, in 4th and 5th respectively, the stage also saw Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda Team) bounce back with a top ten (8th) place effort, with teammate Adrien Van Beveren right behind in 9th. Overall motorcycle division leader Ross Branch (Hero Motosports/Monster Energy) would finish just a click outside the Stage 2 top ten (11th), but managed to hold on to his overall lead – 2:55 ahead of 2nd place Cornejo, with Brabec and Quintanilla close back in 3rd and 4th.

Also, in SSV class racing at Dakar’s Stage 2, Monster Energy’s Dakar rookie racer Sara Price (South Racing/Can-Am) brought her Maverick X3 in a 7th place position and now sits in 4th place in the overall class standings, 13:42 back of leaders Gerard Guell and Diego Gil (South Racing/Can-Am).

Quotes

Cornejo: “Yeah, nice day out there. I started in 5th and tried the best I could to catch the guys in front. After some mistakes they did, around Kilometer 90, I catch them and we went, literally Shakin’ and Bakin’ with Ricky (Brabec) and Ross (Branch) all the way to the finish. I did have a crash at one point but, fortunately, nothing happened to me or the bike. Thanks to the guys who stopped to see if I was alright and we continued. Long day, very rough and difficult navigation. The Dakar is really starting to challenge all of us – and I like it that way.”

Brabec: “Yeah, this is only the second day of the Rally, so I’m not sure what it’s going to take. I’m just trying to make it day by day at this point, and just try to see where we are at the rest points, see what happened. It’s been fun the first two days riding in a group with my teammates, so looking forward to that. Tomorrow I start one position behind Pablo (Quintanilla), so if I can catch Pablo, and ride in a group with Pablo and set us up nicely for a good finish in Stage 3, I think that will set us up nicely for Stage 4. Right now we’re kind of in the middle of everyone, and that’s where I want to be… with someone in front of me and someone behind me. It’s tricky, because you want to win and get that bonus, but then you don’t want to win because you don’t know how tricky (the next stage and earlier start) is going to be. So for now let’s just go day by day and do the best we can each day.”

Quintanilla: “Long day. But not so tough as yesterday. Today we were able to enjoy it a little bit more on the bike. The terrain was quite mixed, some dunes in the morning, fast paced. I was feeling good, but then just before the fueling I got confused on the road and lost some minutes. But yeah, I still have not found the good feeling with the bike. We changed some things yesterday, but still need to change some details to have the perfect feeling. But yeah, the race is just at the beginning. For sure we will still see some surprises. The rhythm of the race, the stages are so long, the way the road route was made is quite different – it’s super easy to lose your way. So we need to stay focused and be ready for the next race.”

Buhler:  “Today I enjoy it a lot. Yesterday was quite difficult because I crashed at the K (Kilometer) 70, and was like surviving the rest of the day. Today I enjoyed the riding and focused so I can go fast, and focus on the navigation. I’m really happy and I will try to continue like this.”

Notes:

• When asked what happens when you’re out in the middle of the desert and you have a big (Liaison) section between Specials, what are you thinking, Quintanilla answered: “You try to be all the time focused on what you’re doing, to find reference, but for sure, sometimes when you are on the bike for seven hours, with a lot of stress, sometimes you can lose the focus for a second. So we have a technique we do in order to get our focus back.”
• American Mason Klein (KOVE), who was running in 3rd place overall behind Branch and Brabec following Stage 1, ran into mechanical issues in Stage 2 and finished in 117th place on Saturday. This dropped Klein off the podium and back to 45th place overall. At the same time Monster Energy’s Howes has piloted his CRF450 Rally back from 44th position and into the top 20. Howes currently sits at 18th – and rising.
• Honda (Monster Energy/Honda Team), the defending Dakar Manufacturers’ Champion, continued its push towards a third FIM World Rally Raid Championship crown in that department. Dakar.com was quoted as saying “It could be a good idea to start engraving the letter H on the FIM Manufacturers’ Trophy to save time.”

Dakar Stage 2 Motorcycle Results

Monster Energy Motorcycle Standings @ Dakar (after Stage 2)

\Monster Energy Dakar SSV Class

Stage 1 SSV Results

Overall

With little sleep and time to mend on the docket, Monster Energy racers gate up again as the 2024 Dakar Rally moves to the Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya Stage 3 route, featuring an opening Special that is sure to disrupt – an unforgiving mix of rock with seemingly endless sand sections and chains of dunes. Fast, slower and jagged being the best way to describe it. For more information, including “Live” timing and scoring, visit www.dakar.com