As if the Dakar Rally isn’t hard enough, imagine having to cover a large portion of it without a rear tyre!
That was the misfortune that befell Andrew Short after the rear tyre shredded off his Husqvarna on Stage 6 of the 2020 Dakar Rally, leaving him to make haste with just the rim keeping his bike going.
Coming into the event as one of the favourites, the American has endured a tough Dakar Rally following problems earlier in the Saudi Arabian event but is still running just outside the top ten.
However, though he continued at some decent looking pace without the tyre, he could only manage the 24th best time on the stage, dropping 35mins in total.
“I was having a really good day until 420km, then I had to be a team player… it was a long ride in the desert!”
Head to 2mins on the video to watch him in (compromised) action.
Up front and KTM’s hopes of sealing a record 19th consecutive Dakar Rally win hang in the balance as Honda’s Ricky Balbec continues to extend his margin out front.
The American won Stage 6 to move further out front and now sits a comfortable 20mins clear of the opposition, which is headed up by Short’s Husqvarna team-mate Pablo Quintanilla, with the leading KTM of Toby Price trailing in third 25mins adrift now.
However, there was disappointment for Kevin Benavides - running third after Stage 5 after mechanical problems cost him a huge 3 hours, leaving him visibly devastated.
Even so, much can still change on the Dakar Rally with six stages left to run. Brabec led the 2019 Dakar Rally – held in South America – with three stages to go before dropping back, paving the way for Price to maintain KTM’s unbroken run of successes stretching back to the start of the Millennium.
British rider Sam Sunderland dropped out of the event when he crashed on Stage 5, breaking five vertebrae in the process.
