Craig Bounds Dakar Rally Campaign 2010
09/01/2010 18:56:08

Stage 1: Craig completed the first competitive stage at a steady pace and finished 36th in an uneventful days riding.

Stage 2: It rains a lot and the stage is on muddy gravel. Craig clearly forgets where he is and pretends he is in his beloved Welsh forests. Despite 40 degree temperatures Craig places 18th on todays stage and is now 26th overall.

Stage 3: A 180km short stage decimates the field and leaves riders out all night in sand dunes. Tamsin Jones arrives back at the bivouac exhausted at 2:30am! Craig rides well and arrives 40th. A sat phonecall tells us he has been in first gear all day with fuel problems along with many other competitors and actually ran out of fuel towards the end of the stage. A good result nontheless.

Stage 4: Its all starts to become confusing! Craig has six hours randomly added to his time but it is not listed anywhere as a time penalty. Did he miss checkpoints? We still don't know but we're working on it! The stage is cut short as the rally enters its second day of dunes and Craig places 49th on the stage but is now dropped to 89th overall as a result of his extra added time.

Stage 5: The second longest competitive section of the race sees some big leader changes as the longer days start to take their toll. Craig rides a really nicely measured stage staying around a steady 40th place all day and finishes bang on target. Some parts of the Dakar website record Craigs time without the 6 hours added and place him in 47th overall...some don't!

Before the days racing started we had confirmation of Craigs 6 hour penalty not being a mistake, but due to him missing a checkpoint on stage 3 by 200m. This will inevitably effect his final position, but I think as a learning experience its fair to say Craig now knows missing checkpoints even by a little bit is a BAD idea!

Its most exciting to speculate how the race would be going without the penalty and I will add the theoretical place for interest at the end of each days update as a reference to how Craigs race pace matches those of the top riders.

A 418km special stage today proved vicious and deadly for many competitors.

'Today’s stage was, according to Pål Anders’ opinion, until now the most dangerous stage. It was big and rough edges and ditches, and “crap” everywhere. And it happened every so often that the rear of the bike floated out in 90 degrees.

With Andrew Neri a popular UK competitor out of the rally with a broken collarbone, Luca Manca in critical condition in a Santiago hospital, and many more competitors still forecast to be out on the stage for many hours yet it was a worrying day to follow Craigs progress over 5' 30" of racing. Eventually Craig came home in good order having run a typically steady race in line with his initial philosophy of keeping it steady, riding at no more than 75% and trying for a top 30 finish.

His positions at the days checkpoints show his relentless pace:

Start 40th

68km 46

117km 51

153km 52

195km 51st

252km 46th

292km 43rd

359km 42nd

393km 43rd

Finish 50th

and bring him home at 50th place on stage, 58th place overall. A superb achievement so far, but there are harder days ahead. Tomorrows stage runs to 600km of sand (not Craigs first choice of riding surface) and should prove a fascinating days racing to lead us up to the rest day on day 8.

Thanks for all the kind emails sent yesterday in response to this update. In answer to some of your most common queries...Craig has a five year Dakar plan of which this is year two. His target this year was a steady pace at 75-80% of his ability aiming for a top 30 finish. This is hopefully to raise his profile to top UK rally rider, provide him with more big rally experience and allow his greater exposure to attract more sponsors to generate enough income for next years bid based around a more agressive, informed, riding style hoping to place him further up the leader board still in 2011.

Without his 6 hour penalty Craig would be currently placed : 37th Overall

Before the days racing started we had confirmation of Craigs 6 hour penalty not being a mistake, but due to him missing a checkpoint on stage 3 by 200m. This will inevitably effect his final position, but I think as a learning experience its fair to say Craig now knows missing checkpoints even by a little bit is a BAD idea!

Its most exciting to speculate how the race would be going without the penalty and I will add the theoretical place for interest at the end of each days update as a reference to how Craigs race pace matches those of the top riders.

A 418km special stage today proved vicious and deadly for many competitors.

'Today’s stage was, according to Pål Anders’ opinion, until now the most dangerous stage. It was big and rough edges and ditches, and “crap” everywhere. And it happened every so often that the rear of the bike floated out in 90 degrees.

With Andrew Neri a popular UK competitor out of the rally with a broken collarbone, Luca Manca in critical condition in a Santiago hospital, and many more competitors still forecast to be out on the stage for many hours yet it was a worrying day to follow Craigs progress over 5' 30" of racing. Eventually Craig came home in good order having run a typically steady race in line with his initial philosophy of keeping it steady, riding at no more than 75% and trying for a top 30 finish.

His positions at the days checkpoints show his relentless pace:

Start 40th

68km 46

117km 51

153km 52

195km 51st

252km 46th

292km 43rd

359km 42nd

393km 43rd

Finish 50th

and bring him home at 50th place on stage, 58th place overall. A superb achievement so far, but there are harder days ahead. Tomorrows stage runs to 600km of sand (not Craigs first choice of riding surface) and should prove a fascinating days racing to lead us up to the rest day on day 8.

Thanks for all the kind emails sent yesterday in response to this update. In answer to some of your most common queries...Craig has a five year Dakar plan of which this is year two. His target this year was a steady pace at 75-80% of his ability aiming for a top 30 finish. This is hopefully to raise his profile to top UK rally rider, provide him with more big rally experience and allow his greater exposure to attract more sponsors to generate enough income for next years bid based around a more agressive, informed, riding style hoping to place him further up the leader board still in 2011.

Without his 6 hour penalty Craig would be currently placed : 37th Overall