Honda: Redemptive victory with mourning 🎥
FIRST SUCCESS SINCE 1989 American Ricky Brabec wrote himself into the Honda history books with his triumph in the Dakar Rally. However, the joy is limited due to a fatality. The biker highlights sum up the drama at the 2020 Dakar Rally in a few minutes. Five years after his first participation [...]
The bikers' highlights sum up the drama at the 2020 Dakar Rally in a few minutes.
Five years after his first participation in the world's toughest cross-country rally, Ricky Brabec won the overall classification of this year's Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. The last Honda victory - at that time in the original Paris-Dakar Rally - dates back to 1989. Honda then took a break until 2013. Eight years after the comeback, the return to the top step of the podium followed.
Overall victory and three Honda riders in the top ten
The experience from four previous Dakar rallies paid off. The 28-year-old American from the Monster Energy Honda Team took the lead with victory in the third stage and did not relinquish it again until the finish of the twelfth and final daily classification.
His teammate José Ignacio Cornejo drove the Honda CRF450 RALLY to fourth place overall. Joan Barreda's seventh place ensured that three Monster Energy Honda Team riders finished in the top ten.
The first participation of Honda in the Dakar Rally took place in 1981. 1986 followed the first victory with a NXR750 and three more overall victories in 1987, 1988 and 1989. After that, Honda sat out for 23 years. In 2013, Honda decided to return with the CRF450 RALLY.
Homage to Paulo Goncales
The 42nd edition of the Dakar Rally took the competitors over more than 7000 km through Saudi Arabia during 13 days from January 5 to 17. 75 percent of the routes were desert sections.
Stage 7 was not scored for the motorcycle class after the tragic accident of Paulo Goncalves. The Portuguese contributed a lot to Honda's success during six years.
Ricky Brabec: "It was a long and hard race. The whole team worked very professionally and also the bikes worked perfectly. I thank everyone, the Honda team, the supporters and the helpers who stood behind us and made such a performance possible. Especially I also thank Paulo Goncalves, my former teammate. I am mourning and thinking of him also at this moment. This was the first Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia and it was incredible, the landscape, the routes, just fantastic! I'm already looking forward to next year!"
