Grabham ruled out of Dakar Rally during Stage 4
Allan Roberts now highest ranking Australian in 52nd.
Source: KTM Australia.
KTM Australia’s Ben Grabham is out of the Dakar Rally after crashing during the fourth stage of the event between San Juan and Chilecito.
The 32-year-old encountered a drop-off in thick dust and fell heavily, before being taken to hospital for examination in Argentina where he was subsequently released.
General manager of KTM Australia Jeff Leisk said the fall was most likely a result of yesterday’s misfortune, in which Grabham – while running third in the stage – was one of four riders to follow a lead competitor down a wrong turn and got badly stuck on a steep mountainside.
The difficulty compounded when one rider crashed heavily, and Grabham and two others waited with the injured rider while he was airlifted to safety.
The chain of events dropped Grabham from ninth outright to 32nd place, and left him many slower riders to pass in dangerous, dusty conditions.
“Ben’s had to ride through a lot of dust today and found a big drop and gone over the front,” said Leisk, himself a former world motocross vice champion. “I’ve received a small amount of information and it looks like he’s hit his head and is pretty battered and bruised. He had to get checked out but seems to have nothing broken.
“Obviously he’s extremely disappointed to have his Dakar end in this manner. I was concerned when he had his setback yesterday because it puts the rider in the position of having to take calculated risks to keep moving forward.
“We’ve all done it – but the most important thing is that he seems okay, so I’m very relieved about that.”
Today’s stage win went to Spanish rider Juan Pedrero Garcia (Sherco) ahead of KTM riders Francisco Lopez and Marc Coma, while in the overall standings Team HRC’s Juan Barreda Bort holds a narrow lead over the KTMs of three time-winner Coma and Lopez.
With the withdrawal of Grabham, as well as Mark Davidson and Peter Jacobsen, Allan Roberts is now the top-ranking Aussie in 52nd, with Troy O’Connor 53rd and Shane Diener 73rd following Stage 4.
2014 Dakar Rally
Argentina-Bolivia-Chile
Stage 4 results:
1. Juan Pedrero Garcia 5h29m13
2. Francisco Lopez +29s
3. Marc Coma +3m10
4. Jeremias Israel Esquerre +6m30
5. Olivier Pain +7m01
6. Joan Barreda +13m56
7. Paulo Goncalves +18m38
8. Ivan Jakes +19m30
9. Alain Duclos +23m13
10. Daniel Gouet +24m38
Overall standings (after Stage 4):
1. Joan Barreda 15h39m53
3. Marc Coma +3m10
3. Francisco Lopez +5m12
4. Alain Duclos +25m55
5. Olivier Pain +29m38
6. Cyril Despres +41m17
7. David Casteu +42m17
8. Jeremias Israel Esquerre +46m33
9. Jordi Viladoms +49m14
10. Jakub Przygonski +54m52
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