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--  Dakar Stage Five - 5th Stage – Arequipa (Peru) – Arica (Chile) --  411 km stage (257 miles) including 136 km special test --  David Casteu wins Stage Five Result of Stage 5: 1. Casteu (FRA, Yamaha), 2. Pain (FRA, Yamaha) 01:09 min behind, 3. Pedrero (Spa , KTM) 2:58, 4. Alessandro Botturi (ITA, Husqvarna) 3:25, 5. Despres (FRA, KTM) 4:07 Overall Standings after five stages: 1. Pain (FRA, Yamaha), 2. Casteu (FRA, Yamaha) 1:15 min behind, 3. Despres (FRA, KTM) 6:07, 4. Faria (PRT, KTM) 13:34, 5. Viladoms (ESP, Husqvarna) 13:36 Aussie Standings Overall 1 PAIN (FRA) 9 YAMAHA 11:51:29 - - 20 FAGGOTTER (AUS) 123 YAMAHA 12:23:36 0:32:07 - 27 GRABHAM (AUS) 57 KTM 12:57:48 1:06:19 - 28 STRANGE (AUS) 131 HONDA 13:01:04 1:09:35 - 50 SMITH (AUS) 156 HONDA 14:45:04 2:53:35 - 56 FISH (AUS) 39 HUQSVARNA 14:56:39 3:05:10 - 79 PAVEY (AUS) 51 HUSQVARNA 16:00:03 4:08:34 - --  Yamaha Report Frenchmen David Casteu and Olivier Pain having raced ahead to again set the pace in the special stage. The 274km trek from Arequipa and Arica became Team Casteu Yamaha Racing France rider Casteu’s third Dakar stage victory. Yamaha Racing France’s Pain was just one minute behind him to make it a Yamaha one-two. The results keep Pain at the top of the overall standings with Casteu just one minute behind him, and then a further six minutes to the next rider. Frans Verhoeven made up valuable ground from yesterday’s frustrating result following a technical issue. The Dutch Yamaha Netherlands Verhoeven Team rider wrapping up the stage in 15th to move four places up the overall standings. Yamaha Racing Team Argentina quad rider Marcos Patronelli continued in winning form today, taking his fourth consecutive stage victory of the Rally. The Yamaha YF700M based quad looking stronger than ever and taking the top four positions in both the day’s stage and the overall standings. “The stage I won in 2010 seems a long time ago,” said David Casteu. “I've always said to myself that winning a special stage is fabulous. What's more, winning at the start of the rally when all the riders are still in it, it's really great. At the end of the Dakar, it can be argued that other riders relax and manage their position. When you win like that with all these riders who've got the bit between their teeth, it's good. Also, it was on a 136-km long special stage, so today it was like a long sprint. I'm really happy about it. I've really got the feel of my bike now and I'm really enjoying it. It's a bike on which I feel good, on which I gobble up the obstacles and behind the handlebars of which I'm relaxed and calm. I arrived on this Dakar having taken stock, with the aim of enjoying each moment, each second. I'm 38 years old and I'm going to take every day as it comes. I'm itching to ride flat out and today I had great fun”. “This morning, I didn't know how it was going to work out,” said Olivier Pain. “I wasn't stressed out, but I wanted to avoid making a mistake so that people wouldn't say, ‘he got caught out because he got too big for his boots'. I set off in a good state of mind. I was especially concentrating on not falling. I made a small navigation error right at the beginning, but I put it right straight away. I didn't see Joan (Barreda) stopped next to the track. I don't know if he had problems or if he made a mistake. I had to open the road for three-quarters of the day. David started to catch up with me a bit in the middle, but I put some distance in between us near the end. It was a good special stage, very dangerous at the beginning with a bit of navigation before a big rocky area. The end was more twisting in a canyon with nice tracks and some fesh-fesh. It was a nice stage to ride and I'm still leader. That makes it two days running now”. --  GHR Honda Report Stony hills, riverbed crossings, fesh fesh, broken tracks, and off piste sections littered with boulders conspired together with the ever present challenge of navigation in a punishing 136km leg to Arica. Even the leaders were taken aback by the difficulty of the seemingly short stage in which passing was both onerous and perilous. Comments from Todd Smith: “Stage 5 was a tough one, thank God its done! I didn’t have much energy as a result of yesterday but went ok. I stopped along the way to help (fellow Australian) Troy O’Connor. I gave him a spanner then a heap of quads got back past me. It was tight running in bull dust for ages after. I lost time at the end because they changed the road book for the last 10km and I went back to check it out. The stage itself started with knee deep fesh fesh (bulldust) then 11km off piste rock field (with no defined road), and more fesh fesh. I was constantly passing riders. To top off the exhaustion we lose 2 hours tonight with the change of time zones!” Glenn Hoffmann: “After Stage 4, Todd and Brett were pretty drained but they both soldiered through Stage 5 and that’s what matters. Everyone riding for the team is up to it. The mechanics are up to it. We keep going. Obviously Todd’s troubles are frustrating because they came just as he was coming to grips with the sand and the navigation. But the team are doing what they do best. It’s a long race. The bikes are fast and the boys are uninjured. Warren (Strange) is in the top 30 and riding really well. He’s always had the ability but this year he’s incredibly focused on the end result. Each of the last three days has brought an improvement in the standings for him. Same thing for Paul Smith who is very strong in the rough terrain. He’s still looking to sneak into the top 10 quads. The longer and tougher the stage, the better he does on the 700XX. The next couple of days are expected to be long, brutal shifts for everyone but that’s why we’re here.” GHR times and placings: MOTO 28th #131 – STRANGE Warren 13h01m04s (+01:09:35 behind leader) 50th #156 – SMITH Todd 14h45m04s (+02:53:35 behind leader) 89th #089 – CUMMINGS Brett 16h34m56s (+04:43:27 behind leader) GHR times and placings: QUAD 16th #274 – SMITH Paul 16h42m12s (+03:21:16 behind leader) Stage 6 Arica > Calama will be the longest yet at a total of 769km, including an extensive 455km special. The bikes have a very early start at 04:30, perceived as 02:30 due to a change in time zone. The bikes, quads, cars and trucks share a single route once more so the added pressure of traffic will compound the duress as they move into the Atacama Desert. A neutralised zone mid stage will provide some time for recovery before they’re dropped knee deep into fesh fesh. While the top 25 riders in the moto division are still only separated by a single hour, the lengthy stage, fatigue and damage are bound to mix things up. --  Ben Grabham Report Stage Five of the Dakar Rally saw HSE Motorex KTM Desert Racing Team rider Ben Grabham continue his clean running to finish 32nd and climb three spots to 29th overall. Grabham has been intent on achieving a smooth and faultless start to his maiden Dakar Rally with a view to a strategic push in the second week of the gruelling 8000-kilometre race, a plan which is being executed with typical professionalism. Today’s short, 136-kilometre stage began at over 2000 metres altitude and descended to 200m before climbing back to 800m, starting in a potentially damaging 80 kilometres of rocky wilderness. The 31-year-old Aussie finished today’s Special Stage in an hour and 58 minutes, 18 in arrears of Frenchman David Casteu who won from Oliver Pain and Juan Pedrero. After crossing the border toward the end of a 274-kilometre transport section, competitors now begin the Chilean leg of their adventure, taking in a variety of incredible landscapes and some exceptionally high traverses in the Andes. Tomorrow’s longer Stage 6 will begin to stretch the fatigue levels of competitors, and take them back to the Atacama Desert sand dunes and another encounter with the fesh fesh (bull dust)... --  David Casteu Report David won Wednesday the 5th stage of the Dakar 2013 between raced Arequipa (Peru) and on Arica 410 km, including 136 km of special, after which Olivier Pain (Yamaha) retained the overall lead. David overtook Olivier Pain 1'09 "ending in 1 h 39'42", Italian Alessandro Botturi (Husqvarna) finishing 3rd at 3'25 ". Overall, ahead of David Olivier Pain a minute and 15 seconds, while Cyril Despres (KTM), the fourth step is third in 6'07 ". This is a return to the Nice summit, three years after his victory in the first stage of the 2010 edition. After three'' Dakar'' marked by abandonment (2010) and places in the depths of the rankings in 2011 and 2012, the Frenchman has worked hard physically and perfected a Yamaha YZF 450 he knows by heart. Party with the experience of ten'' Dakar'' David is the beginning of the race in the forefront while allowing even open the track. "Everything was great, the Yamaha has great roll, says it after passing the finish line. At the km 20, I caught Olivier Pain and we rode together. We managed the race track we made. It was a great step. " This 3rd stage victory after those of 2006 and 2010, it is a great pleasure: "Especially since this is the start of the rally, all the drivers are there and nobody manages." After the sand steps Peruvian, this fifth step was more rocky: "It was very hard with lots of stones, dangers, he must be hyper vigilant." David's teammate Romain Souvignet, continues its road ranking 40th in 19'50 "winner and 35th overall at 1 h 28'16" behind the leader. Thursday, David tackles the sixth stage, played today in Chile between Arica and Calama with a link of 331 km and 454 km special in the Atacama Desert. --  Husky Report - Alessandro Botturi fourth in fifth stage of Dakar The Dakar moved into Chile’s Arica desert for the fifth stage with a slow and cumbersome 411 km (257 miles) with 136 km of special test. It almost seemed like an enduro race. In fact, it was enduro rider Alessandro Botturi who showed his true colours bringing the Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain a well-earned fourth place. After Joan Barreda’s two stage wins and Paulo Goncalves’ second place, Alessandro rode his Husqvarna TE449RR by Speedbrain into fourth place for the second time. In doing so he moves up two places in the overall standings. Now the Italian rider is in 7th place overall. Husqvarna’s “special customer” Jordi Viladoms on a TE449RR by Speedbrain, put in his usual consistent performance, coming in sevententh today and fifth overall, moving up to lead the Husqvarna riders. The 'fesh-fesh’ and large rocks made life difficult for Paulo Goncalves in the special, where he strived not to make mistakes and finished in fourteenth place. Likewise, Joan Barreda had an unlucky day picking up a fifteen minute penalty as for an engine change. The engine was substituted in the night as a precaution when a faulty bearing was found. Joan came in a long way behind in today special stage due problems with the gas pump helped with water-carrier Matt Fish. Tomorrow sees the caravan roll on to Argentina with an extremely long 764 km stage (477 miles) with 454 km of special test. Alessandro Botturi: ”I set out to win today, but it turned out to be more tricky than I’d imagined. I was unable to attack in the way I’d have liked because of the lack of visibility and the fesh-fesh, but it was a good stage for me.” Paulo Goncalves: ”I was really careful today. It was a very dangerous stage with a very hazardous terrain. It would have been easy to fall, so I tried not to make any mistakes and get through the stage.” Jordi Viladoms: ”I’m really pleased with my Speedbrain-Husqvarna. I’m really getting on well with it. Today was a very hazardous stage and I tried to keep a steady pace. I’m very satisfy with my fifth overall place so far.” --  HRC Report The Dakar Rally enters Chile and the difference is visible in terms of the scenery and the average speed recorded at the end of the stage. Riders tackled mountains rocky paths today reaching 2,200 meters before riding downhill for a 136-km long stage. It was a very demanding stage from a physical point of view especially in the stony sections and in the river bed crossings. Team HRC Riders started this relatively short stage with the target to close the gap from the front riders but without taking too many risks. It was a tight battle at the front with French David Casteu winning the stage 1'09" ahead of Olivier Pain and 3'25" in front of Alessandro Botturi. Cyril Despres finished in fourth place, 4'07'' behind his countryman, whilst Helder Rodrigues was eighth, 4'52" behind the stage winner. Javier Pizzolito finished 18th, while Johnny Campbell finished in 24th position. Argentinian Pizzolito now sits in 11th place overall (25’45” behind Pain who maintains the lead) followed by his team mate Helder Rodrigues, 12th at 25’58”. Johnny Campbell sits in 98th place. Helder Rodrigues, SS5 8th +4’52”, 12th in the Overall: “It was a technical stage with lots of fech fech mixed with rocks, some fast “off piste” and then we climbed on rocky trails up to 2,000 meters. As it was a short stage, my strategy was not to push too much, so that tomorrow I can start in 8th position and I can attack focusing on recovering positions. My CRF 450 rally worked well today and I’m satisfied with today’s performance”. Javier Pizzolito SS5 18th +7’42”, 11th in the Overall: “The final stage in Peru was short but very technical. I didn’t push too much as this was not a stage where you could recover many positions. I’m focusing on the first stage in Chile tomorrow where we will face sand and dunes of the Atacama desert”. Johnny Campbell SS5 24th +14’50”, 98th in the Overall: “At the beginning there was a lot of fech fech mixed with stones so I rode more conservative, then we had a challenging hill climb on rocky mountains trails. Riding downhill, we faced tricky river crossings with lots of ditches. I was not comfortable in the first part of the stage, but after km 50, when we got some fast hard terrain, it was more a “Baja style” ride and I could ride more on full gas”.

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