Dakar 2019 Stage 7,8 Report:  As riders enter the homestretch for the 2019 Dakar, the riders will be focused on the finish line and hoping for the best. The Dakar is a fickle mistress and can turn on the most experienced riders on a dime. Most teams will be looking to finish the rally without incident as far as possible.  Thankfully, after a disappointing campaign in the second half of the marathon stage, the Indian teams have managed to find their rhythm once again. In stage 8, the start of the day was Michael Metge, who started his 2019 Dakar campaign with a fervour only to be set back by a tremendous hiccup in Stage 2, has finally found his pace. He put in a stellar performance to finish 11th on the day. Hot on his tail was Hero’s Oriol Mena and Joaquim Rodrigues. Who took 12th and 13th place for the day. Meanwhile, Adrien Metge’s TVS was in 17th place. Â
While Mena still holds the overall lead for riders from Indian teams, standing in eleventh place overall. His team-mate J-Rod is 18th place. Trailing behind them are the TVS-Sherco pair of Michael and Adrien Metge in 24th and 26th place respectively. For the rest, the finish line should be prize enough, but for Oriol Mena who might be tasting a top 10 result, it will be a difficult decision as to whether he should push on, or go for consistency.
The Dakar 2019, has definitely started taking its toll, Stage 7 saw Aravind KP struggle due to navigational issues which sent him back a couple of positions. But on Stage 8 the last standing Indian rider and TVS Sherco machine blew threw the stages fighting the dust storm of the riders in front of him to finish in 46th place for the day bringing him to 47th overall.
Meanwhile as is the norm with the Dakar, leading rider Ricky Brabec had a massive disappointment, dropping out of the rally after his Honda ran into engine troubles. This put KTM in the lead of the 2019 Dakar for the first time. With Toby Price leading the way, one minute ahead of Walkner and Sunderland close by.
