Australasian Safari 2011 – Day Four
Smith brothers still leading Safari but Yamaha’s Diener hot on their heels
Overall Standings- After Day 4
1st Todd Smith – 17.05:57 (Honda)
2nd Jacob Smith – 17.15:50 (Honda)
3rd Shane Diener – 17.16:19 (Yamaha)
4th Rod Faggotter – 17.35:19 (Yamaha)
5th Cyril Despres – 18.06:14 (KTM)
6th Damien Grabham – 18.17: 39 (Husberg)
7th Ben Williams – 19.00:34 (Honda)
8th David Schwarz – 19.23:43 (Husberg)
9th David Geeves – 19.58:50 (Honda)
10th Russell Scooble – 20.00:55 (Honda)
– GHR Honda Report
Leg 4 is done and dusted, and with three days of the 2011 Safari remaining GHR rider Todd Smith still has a solid hold on the lead.
The day comprised three special stages and two road sections.
The 85.31km SS7 Lehmann Loop ventured eastwards after traversing technical mining roads, then a 2.17km road section brought the riders to the start of SS8 Cosmo. The middle of this 129.55km selective featured a fast section of bends with ruts and multiple erosion warnings. Another short road section lead to the final SS9 Great Victoria stage was a 241.21km and varied mix of station tracks, mine roads, sand dunes, rock sections and boggy areas.
Todd Smith: “Another good day up front. Shane Diener pulled some time on me today I think. We definitely did some revving today! You be flat out for 10ks straight, then turn and have the same again and again. The leading three remained fairly close to the finish, but it feels good to be where I want to be.”
Jacob Smith: “I really couldn’t have done that second stage any quicker today. I was picking the corners early and just nailing them all the way round. Today was seriously fun – the sections with the bends just had incredible grip because of the rains recently. Dead set, if riders didn’t enjoy today they really shouldn’t be riding a bike. It’s Todd’s race to lose now but we’re going to keep working together and we’ll see how Shane goes with some pressure from us behind while he’s leading.”
– Yamaha Report
Yamaha’s Shane Diener has won all three stages during day four of competition at the 2011 Australian Safari and closed to within a minute of the second placed rider while team mate Rod Faggotter consolidated his fourth place overall in a standout day for the team.
Diener entered day four looking to close the gap on the leaders and left the morning check point in an aggressive frame of mind. He whittled off 19 seconds in the opening stage, another 1minute 51seconds during stage two and 54 seconds during stage three to close right in on second place and be just over 10 minutes from the lead after 17 hours of racing.
With his Yamaha WR450F in perfect condition, Diener was able to pile the pressure on all day as he took up the fight to the leaders.
“To win this event, I’m going to have to ride well and have a clean run over the remaining days of competition,” Diener explains. “Today was just what myself and the team was looking for and I was able to take three minutes back off the leader. But I have to continue to do that for the remainder of the event to be any chance of an overall win.”
Rod Faggotter continues to battle bravely as he not only fights to competition and the terrain but also a hand injury sustained during day two. Faggotter logged another solid day and consolidated his fourth position but is frustrated that the injury prevents him from racing 100%. He logged seventh, fifth and fourth positions in each of the three stages today and now sits 19 minutes behind Diener but 35minutes ahead of rallye legend Cyril Despres.
“I’m just trying to do the best I can and look after my hand as much as possible. In the real high speed stuff or on rough terrain I can’t grip the bike as strong as I need to so I have to back it down a bit and use my end. We still have a look way to go, so I need to look after my hand and get through each day as it comes.”
Day five will see competitors compete in two stages from Laverton to Leonera and covering 390 kilometres. The Yamaha duo will be looking to repeat their day four heroics and hone in on a top overall finish.