The first edition of the Central Europe Rally came to an end today. Team Honda Europe / Dakarsport is satisfied with the results. We talked to Jurgen and Mirjam just after they came of the finishpodium.
Jurgen van den Goorbergh (21^st overall: “I found a great new hobby. I really enjoyed this rally. For today we made some new adjustments to the suspension, which made it easier to push harder with less effort. (12^th time in the stage today!) My goal was to finish close to the top 20 and I succeeded. Today and the second stage in the sand a few days ago were really perfect.

The stage of today was an exact copy of the stage of yesterday. The stage existed of two specials of 157 and 54 kilometer. The navigation was off course not very difficult this second time.  Thanks to the nice weather and the fact that the cars went over the track yesterday after the bikes, the underground was a lot more firm and dry this morning.  Because of this the conditions were different.  The fastest bike (Frenchmen Cyril Despres ) was over 7 minutes faster compared to the best time of yesterday. 

It was a day with ups and downs for Zse Helio on the 4th day of the rally. In the first special he lost a lot of time thanks to a problem with the carburetor, only after 7 km. He had to stop to fix it which cost him about 20 minutes. In the 2nd special Zse showed what he’s capable off by riding the 7th fastest time. At last he felt a bit at home at the technically difficult special with mainly winding gravelroads and high speed bumps.

This morning we exchanged a few words with the members of Team Honda Europe / Dakarsport in the assistance park. So far everything is running smoothly. The bikes are performing great, and except for cleaning and regular maintenance the mechanics Gerben en Johan don’t have a lot of work.

Tricky stage on second day.

Although he wasn’t satisfied himself, Brazilian rider Zse is performing very well in the first edition of the Central Europe Rally. A 14th place in the stage made sure he’s now 12th overall